Jean-Michel Basquiat

“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 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.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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