IDEAL INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL

The artist Jean-Michel Basquiat lived from 1960 to 1988 to become one of the most enigmatic characters of contemporary art of the late 20th century. He was renowned for evocative neo-expressionistic outputs that incorporated text, imagery, and social commentary. This paper explores the mind of Basquiat by taking a cursory look at a selection of his oeuvre through the lens of expressivism as a technique of art criticism. Expressivism is considered the best approach because it highlights the artist’s subjective emotional experience and the spontaneous communication of his inner realities, and personal opinions about his social realities. It offers the right framework to understand Basquiat’s complex personality, struggles, and use of symbolic language. The analysis highlights how Basquiat’s works address issues of race, class struggle, identity, trauma, and power. This review underscores the inalienable link between his creative voyage and his psychological state, showcasing how his works serve as some form of creative windows to his psych, giving cues to how his mind worked and how he communicated in manners weightier than words.

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