Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960–1988) was a Brooklyn-born artist of Haitian and Puerto Rican descent who first drew attention in the late 1970s through the SAMO graffiti tag he made with Al Diaz. His paintings and drawings layer figures, crowns, anatomical diagrams, words and crossed-out text to address race, power, history and fame. He rose to prominence in early-1980s New York and died at 27.
