Jean-Michel Basquiat

“I had some money, I made the best paintings ever. I was completely reclusive, worked a lot, took a lot of drugs. I was awful to people.”

“I don't think about art when I'm working. I try to think about life.”

“I am not a black artist, I am an artist.”

“I cross out words so you will see them more; the fact that they are obscured makes you want to read them.”

“Art is how we decorate space, music is how we decorate time.”

“I'm not a real person. I'm a legend.”

“I don't listen to what art critics say. I don't know anybody who needs a critic to find out what art is.”

“Believe it or not, I can actually draw.”

“I wanted to be a star, not a gallery mascot.”

“Since I was seventeen, I thought I might be a star. I'd think about all my heroes, Charlie Parker, Jimi Hendrix... I had a romantic feeling about how these people became famous.”

“I like kids' work more than work by real artists any day.”

“I'm an artist who has been influenced by his environment.”

“The country makes me more paranoid, you know? I think the crazy people are in the country. I'm more comfortable in the city.”