I thought I was going to be a bum the rest of my life.–Jean — Michel Basquiat

I was a really lousy artist as a kid. Too abstract expressionist; or I’d draw a big ram’s head, really messy. I’d never win painting contests. I remember losing to a guy who did a perfect Spiderman.–Jean — Michel Basquiat

I am not a black artist, I am an artist.–Jean — Michel Basquiat

Fire will attract more attention than any other cry for help.–Jean — Michel Basquiat

I was a cute kid.–Jean — Michel Basquiat

I start a picture and I finish it.–Jean — Michel Basquiat

I don’t listen to what art critics say. I don’t know anybody who needs a critic to find out what art is.–Jean — Michel Basquiat

The black person is the protagonist in most of my paintings. I realized that I didn’t see many paintings with black people in them.–Jean — Michel Basquiat

If I’m away from painting for a week, I get bored.–Jean — Michel Basquiat

I have a painting where somebody’s holding a chicken, and underneath the chicken is somebody’s head.–Jean — Michel Basquiat

There are about 30 words around you all the time, like ‘thread’ or ‘exit.’–Jean — Michel Basquiat

I wanted to be a cartoonist when I was young.–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.–Jean — Michel Basquiat

My favorite Twombly is ‘Apollo and the Artist,’ with the big ‘Apollo’ written across it.–Jean — Michel Basquiat

Samo as an end to to mindwash religion, nowhere politics and bogus philosophy.–Jean — Michel Basquiat

The country makes me more paranoid, you know? I think the crazy people out there are little crazier.–Jean — Michel Basquiat

The more I paint the more I like everything.–Jean — Michel Basquiat

I played a guitar with a file, and a synthesizer.–Jean — Michel Basquiat

I had very few friends. There was nobody I could trust. I left home when I was fifteen. I lived in Washington Square Park.–Jean — Michel Basquiat

I don’t think about art when I’m working. I think about life.–Jean — Michel Basquiat

I want to make paintings that look as if they were made by a child.–Jean — Michel Basquiat

I like kids’ work more than work by real artists any day.–Jean — Michel Basquiat

I start a picture and I finish it. I don’t think about art while I work. I try to think about life.–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.–Jean — Michel Basquiat

I wanted to be a star, not a gallery mascot.–Jean — Michel Basquiat

If you wanna talk about influence, man, then you’ve got to realize that influence is not influence. It’s simply someone’s idea going through my new mind.–Jean — Michel Basquiat

Charles Saatchi has never liked my work at all.–Jean — Michel Basquiat

Every single line means something.–Jean — Michel Basquiat