Believe it or not, I can actually draw.
Jean-Michel Basquiat

I am not a black artist, I am an artist.
Jean-Michel Basquiat

I don't listen to what art critics say. I don't know anybody who needs a critic to find out what art is.
Jean-Michel Basquiat

I don't think about art when I'm working. I try to think about life.
Jean-Michel Basquiat

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.
Jean-Michel Basquiat

I start a picture and I finish it.
Jean-Michel Basquiat

I thought I was going to be a bum the rest of my life.
Jean-Michel Basquiat

I wanted to be a star, not a gallery mascot.
Jean-Michel Basquiat

Since I was seventeen I thought I might be a star. I'd think about all my heroes, Charlie Parker, Jimi Hendrix... I had a romantic feeling about how these people became famous.
Jean-Michel Basquiat