Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child

I’m a fan of Basquiat, I like his name but more importantly I really, truly like his work. It’s a great mix of childhood innocence, social commentary and a treatment of type, language and words in a visual manner. I’m also a fan of seeing artists up close and personal, or getting behind the scenes info on their lives and how their creativity works. There’s been more than a few movies and films on Basquiat, and I think I’ve seen all of them, but it’s been a while. So I was excited to go see Tamra Davis’ version, complete with never before seen footage of the man himself.

That part was probably the least interesting, and the film overall was an ok documentary. I did get a good sense of Basquiats life out of it, and what his art was about, and how it came to be. Although these were things I mostly knew already. So if you are new to Basquiat lots of good stuff, if you are already familiar then it is a good refresher at least. Also there are lot’s of great shots of New york from the 70’s and 80’s, which I always love, relish even. So I was pretty satisfied.

(image from lookintomyowl.com)