I love Schnabel’s film Basquiat. I saw it years ago before even becoming an art history major and was immediately mesmerized by Basquiat as a character. I then wrote my “Theories and Methods” paper last year on the film and the ways in which it perpetuates Vasari’s myth of the “artistic genius.” Although I love Schnabel’s Basquiat, it definitely glorifies the New York art scene. In contrast, the documentary on Basquiat, Boom For Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat shows a devastated New York. While watching this documentary, I was shocked by the extreme poverty shown in the film. Basquiat shows Jean-Michel as living on the streets, but those scenes help to boost his image as a “struggling artist;” they do not show the reality of New York City in the 70s.
The documentary uses images of the devastated streets of SoHo to illustrate the impact of art in the area. The poverty of SoHo allowed for artists to work in the area and collaborate on street art. Since no one cared about the lower east side, graffiti artists such as Basquiat could get away with writing all over the neighborhood; the poverty of the lower east side allowed for the subculture of graffiti to thrive.