Jean-Michel Basquiat:The Radiant Child

On Saturday afternoon, I went to E Street Cinema to see the documentary I had been waiting to see for months, The Radiant Child, about the short and significant life of the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE this man! This was directed by Tamra Davis; a friend of Basquiat’s and contains unseen footage of an interview she conducted with him two years before his untimely death in 1988. There are many interviews with his close friends, former girlfriends and peers in the art world.


This film was particularly interesting and inspiring to me because it captured a moment in time in New York City in which I would have loved to experience. Everyone was doing something creative by day and making a name for themselves in the club scene by night. This movie captured the essence of the artistic spirit. Jean-Michel Basquiat and his rise to fame showed a brilliant mix of when the downtown scene meets the uptown art crowd and the internal struggles of fame.

Jean-Michel Basquiat was born in New York City in 1960 of Haitian and Puerto-Rican descent. He began his career as a graffiti artist sprawling the name SAMO across buildings in lower Manhattan. This work caught the attention of several Soho art dealers and he eventually became an international sensation. Basquiat cultivated relationships with the great artists of that time including Andy Warhol whom he greatly admired, and Keith Haring, Francesco Clemente and Julian Schnabel. Jean-Michel Basquiat died tragically of a heroin overdose at the age of 27. His paintings now sell for millions. The Radiant Child is showing now for one week only at E Street Cinema. www.landmarktheatres.com. Don’t miss it!