Jean-Michel Basquiat

Basquiat was born in Brooklyn, New York. His mother, Matilde, was Puerto Rican and his father, Gerard Basquiat, is an accountant of Haitian origin. Because of his parents' nationalities, Basquiat was fluent in French, Spanish, and English from an early age. He read in these languages, including Symbolist poetry, mythology, and history. At an early age, Basquiat displayed an aptitude for art and was encouraged by his mother to draw, paint and to participate in other art-related activities. In 1977, when he was 17, Basquiat and his friend Al Diaz started spray-painting graffiti art on buildings in lower Manhattan, adding the infamous signature of "SAMO" (i.e., "same old shit") see: SAMO© Graffiti entry. The graphics were pithy messages such as "Plush safe he think.. SAMO" and "SAMO as an escape clause". In December 1978, the Village Voice published an article about the writings. The SAMO project ended with the epitaph "SAMO IS DEAD" written on the walls of SoHo buildings. Unlike the average graffiti artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat came to personify the art scene of the 80's, with its merging of youth culture, money, hype, excess, and self-destruction. And then there was the work, which the public image tended to overshadow: paintings and drawings that conjured up marginal urban black culture and black history, as well as the artist's own conflicted sense of identity. Basquiat's ploy was to write anti-materialism messages in plain view of some of the worst materialists around. This was not only a key to his rise to fame, but a stunning reflection of the tendency of the bourgeoisie to co-opt cultural opposition.

asquiat attended Edward R. Murrow High School and City as a School in New York. In 1978, Basquiat dropped out of high school and left home, a year before graduating. He moved into the city and lived with friends, surviving by selling T-shirts and postcards on the street, and working in the Unique Clothing Warehouse on Broadway. By 1979, however, Basquiat had gained a certain celebrity status amidst the thriving art scene of Manhattan's East Village through his regular appearances on Glenn O'Brien's live public-access cable show, TV Party. In the late 1970s, Basquiat formed a band called Gray (the name being a reference to the book Gray's Anatomy), with Shannon Dawson, Michael Holman, Nick Taylor & Wayne Clifford. Gray played at clubs such as Max's Kansas City, CBGB, Hurrahs, and the Mudd Club. Basquiat worked in a film Downtown 81 (a.k.a New York Beat) which featured some of Gray's rare recordings on its soundtrack He also appeared in Blondie's video "Rapture" as a replacement for DJ Grandmaster Flash when he was a no-show.

Basquiat first started to gain recognition as an artist in June 1980, when he participated in The Times Square Show, a multi-artist exhibition, sponsored by Collaborative Projects Incorporated (Colab) and Fashion Moda. In 1981, poet, art critic and cultural provocateur Rene Ricard published "The Radiant Child" in Artforum magazine, helping to launch Basquiat's career to an international stage. During the next few years, he continued exhibiting his works around New York as well as internationally (alongside other street artists) now in the galleries such as Now Gallery, later promoted by Bruno Bischofberger and other gallery owners and dealers. He later showed at the galleries of Larry Gagosian and Mary Boone.

By 1982, Basquiat was showing regularly, and alongside Julian Schnabel, David Salle, Francesco Clemente and Enzo Cucchi, became part of what was called the Neo-expressionist movement. He started dating an aspiring and then-unknown performer named Madonna in the fall of 1982. That same year, Basquiat met Andy Warhol, with whom he collaborated extensively in 1984-1986, forging a close, if strained, friendship. He was also briefly involved with artist David Bowes. Since he had an enormous appetite for drugs, expensive clothing, fancy restaurants and first-class travel, this meant that he was tempted to work around the clock. Stoked by cocaine and marijuana, he'd often paint 18 hours in a row and then use heroin to get to sleep. When he awoke, he'd start off where he left off. As a modern-day equivalent of the Nibelungen, Basquiat labored away in the windowless basement of an upscale gallery run by an Italian woman named Annina Nosei who saw herself as an "ex-hippie". Basquiat worked on his paintings in Armani suits and often appeared in public in these same paint-splattered $1000 suits--a testament to his affinity for both mammon and bohemia.

antonio blanco

Antonio Blanco was born on September 15, 1911, in Manila, the capital of the Philippines. Both of his parents were Spanish, a fact that Blanco believed linked him geographically and spiritually to Miro and Salvador Dali. His father settled in Manila during the Spanish - American War, where he attained prominence as a physician. Blanco was educated at the American Central School in Manila. During his high school years he loved the arts, literature and language classes but struggled in scientific subjects. It is no wonder that he spoke six languages - Spanish, French, English, Tagalog, Indonesian and a bit of Balinese. After completing high school in Manila, Blanco studied at the National Academy of Art in New York under Sidney Dickinson. During those early formative years, Blanco concentrated on the human form, fascinated by the female body more than any other subject matter. To further his studies and ignite his traveling spirit, he traveled extensively throughout the world before he finally landed in Bali in 1952.The King of Ubud gave Blanco a piece of land to set up his home and studio in Campuan, Ubud, at the confluence of two sacred rivers. Blanco and his Balinese wife, the celebrated dancer Ni Ronji, lived in their mountain retreat, barely leaving it for the world outside. Following a brief trip to the United States, where Blanco acquired many new collectors, the couple never left their fantasy home again.

Living in serene surroundings with his four children, Tjempaka, Mario, Orchid and Maha Devi, Bali became Blanco's center. He was fascinated by the island and completely captivated by its charm.

Blanco lived and worked in his magical hilltop home until his death in 1999, feverishly creating his fantasy portraits of beautiful women. Surrounded by lush gardens, rice fields and with a Banyan tree standing over his family's temple, Antonio Blanco proceeded to create a new reality for himself. His artistic outpourings of this isolated world became much sought after by eager art lovers, collectors and promoters. Within a few years, Blanco became the most famous foreign artist to make Bali his home. He was recognized in both Indonesia and abroad, receiving numerous awords and commanding huge prizes at international auctions.

By the end of his life, Blanco had begun building his museum at his studio in Campuan. Dramatically, he died just before its inauguration. His funeral was marked by a very important oremationin Ubud. It was Blanco's dream to turn his studio-mansion into a museum. His son, Mario, fulfilled this dream by following his path to become a painter. The Blanco Renaissance Museum is now open to the public, exposing both the maestro's and Mario's art works..