Top 32 Quotes by Jean-Michel Basquiat

The more I paint the more I like everything.

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.

Occasionally, when I get mad at a woman, I'll do some great, awful painting about her.

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 have a painting where somebody's holding a chicken, and underneath the chicken is somebody's head.

My basic influence had probably been Peter Max.

I wanted to be a cartoonist when I was young.

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 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.

I want to make paintings that look as if they were made by a child.