Nov 27, 2025 · 1 hr 35 min · 12 segments
“All of the great artists are there for a reason: because they rebelled in some way. They created a visual vocabulary that felt fresh and new, which excited people. So, the great artists are not built…
Doug WoodhamGuest
Mia FunkHost
So my fascination with Jean-Michel Basquiat took root when I moved to New York City in the early 1980s.
Though his name was familiar to those of us who followed the contemporary art world, opportunities to see his work firsthand were scarce.
I was delighted when his name appeared in the New York Times review of a group exhibition featuring 400 artists.
Eager to see his work, I visited the exhibition space, which was a sprawling abandoned army depot in Brooklyn.
But after wandering through what was a very dystopian venue, I was unable to find any of his pieces.
Frustrated, I returned to the entrance and asked the person at the front desk where the work was displayed.
I was told that Basquiat's paintings had been removed due to concerns about theft, as his pieces had suddenly become highly sought after.
While my plans to see his work that day were thwarted, my interest in his art only deepened.
Jean-Michel Basquiat, the Brooklyn-born artist who died of a drug overdose in 1988 at 27, currently stands alongside a handful of others at the very pinnacle of what a visual artist can hope to achieve in our world.
When one of his paintings sold for $110.5 million at auction in 2017, he joined the very exclusive $100 million club alongside luminaries such as Picasso and Modigliani.
The streets of Rio de Janeiro, Paris, and Singapore are filled with people of all ages wearing T-shirts, shoes, and accessories featuring his artwork or image.
Some fans even expressed their admiration permanently through Basquiat-inspired tattoos.
His cultural impact is so far-reaching that he's become a frequent answer on the game show Jeopardy.
But Basquiat's ascension into these parallel pantheons of fine art and pop culture was far from certain.
Despite starting life with the gifts of a sharp intellect, His family recalled him reading articles in the New York Times by first grade.
In a financially stable middle-class home, he was sidetracked by profound early personal traumas.
By his teenage years, he had dropped out of high school and was living on the streets.
Without any formal training as an artist and initially wanting to be a cartoonist, a shy and somewhat fragile young man, he also had to face down the challenge of penetrating the
elitist contemporary
art world of the early 1980s, where Black artists struggled to find recognition and acceptance.
So how did Basquiat's work overcome so many obstacles, both during his brief life and after his death, to achieve such a critical and commercial acclaim? Like a deity with a broad scope of jurisdiction, he has become a patron saint to many.
Basquiat the artistic visionary, Basquiat the truth-telling Black activist, Basquiat the Outsider.
Since attending that Brooklyn exhibition, I've followed Basquiat's trajectory throughout my career as a partner at a global management consulting firm, president of Christie's America, the International Auction House, and an art advisor to collectors and institutions.
What these roles have provided me with is an insider's view of the forces driving the blue-chip art market, a world often shrouded in opacity, as if its inner workings were best kept behind the canvas.
So my fascination with Jean-Michel Basquiat took root when I moved to New York City in the early 1980s.
Though his name was familiar to those of us who followed the contemporary art world, opportunities to see his work firsthand were scarce.
I was delighted when his name appeared in the New York Times review of a group exhibition featuring 400 artists.
Eager to see his work, I visited the exhibition space, which was a sprawling abandoned army depot in Brooklyn.
But after wandering through what was a very dystopian venue, I was unable to find any of his pieces.
Frustrated, I returned to the entrance and asked the person at the front desk where the work was displayed.
I was told that Basquiat's paintings had been removed due to concerns about theft, as his pieces had suddenly become highly sought after.
While my plans to see his work that day were thwarted, my interest in his art only deepened.
Jean-Michel Basquiat, the Brooklyn-born artist who died of a drug overdose in 1988 at 27, currently stands alongside a handful of others at the very pinnacle of what a visual artist can hope to achieve in our world.
When one of his paintings sold for $110.5 million at auction in 2017, he joined the very exclusive $100 million club alongside luminaries such as Picasso and Modigliani.
The streets of Rio de Janeiro, Paris, and Singapore are filled with people of all ages wearing T-shirts, shoes, and accessories featuring his artwork or image.
Some fans even expressed their admiration permanently through Basquiat-inspired tattoos.
His cultural impact is so far-reaching that he's become a frequent answer on the game show Jeopardy.
But Basquiat's ascension into these parallel pantheons of fine art and pop culture was far from certain.
Despite starting life with the gifts of a sharp intellect, His family recalled him reading articles in the New York Times by first grade.
In a financially stable middle-class home, he was sidetracked by profound early personal traumas.
By his teenage years, he had dropped out of high school and was living on the streets.
Without any formal training as an artist and initially wanting to be a cartoonist, a shy and somewhat fragile young man, he also had to face down the challenge of penetrating the
elitist contemporary
art world of the early 1980s, where Black artists struggled to find recognition and acceptance.
So how did Basquiat's work overcome so many obstacles, both during his brief life and after his death, to achieve such a critical and commercial acclaim? Like a deity with a broad scope of jurisdiction, he has become a patron saint to many.
Basquiat the artistic visionary, Basquiat the truth-telling Black activist, Basquiat the Outsider.
Since attending that Brooklyn exhibition, I've followed Basquiat's trajectory throughout my career as a partner at a global management consulting firm, president of Christie's America, the International Auction House, and an art advisor to collectors and institutions.
What these roles have provided me with is an insider's view of the forces driving the blue-chip art market, a world often shrouded in opacity, as if its inner workings were best kept behind the canvas.
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