Space oddities cross paths on a shiny plane: Basquiat and David Bowie

Magnet fine arts French fete: Jake's beignets
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The Artist and the Oddity
Jacob Flett

Throughout history, the world has seen many eccentric artists. Vincent van Gogh, a social outcast, saw the world in a different way than most people, and expressed his vision through his art. Pablo Picasso painted in an abstract way that was revolutionary compared to what people were used to in fine art. Andy Warhol took the definition of fine art and turned it upside down. Jackson Pollack urinated in public.

Two of these eccentric artists are very good examples of this. Jean-Michel Basquiat, a former graffiti artist living on the streets, who became a famous artist through what was basically metaphorical doodles. David Bowie, a famous rock star, who revolutionized the world
of music with his odd musical style and over-the-top style of dress. For a brief period of time, both of these men actually worked together. However, there are many other things these two artists have in common with each other.

For example, both these men, at some point in their career, were musicians. Bowie, obviously, was famous for being a musician, as the main point of his career was the music he made. Basquiat, though not famous for it, also made music with his noise-rock band, Gray. Gray
preformed in nightclubs such as Max’s Kansas City, CBGB, Hurra, and the Mudd Club. However, while Gray had a rather small and short lived career, David Bowie’s musical career has been incredibly huge and enormously influential, and he has remained active since the 60’s. Both
artists have also starred in film as well. Bowie’s acting career was the much larger of the two, with Basquiat only starring in the independent film Downtown 81. David Bowie, however, has played in many films, one of them being the cult classic fantasy Labrinth, in which he plays
Jareth, the evil goblin king. This film was well known for featuring the music of David Bowie, which made it a sort of off-hand musical. Bowie also played Andy Warhol in the film Basquiat, a biopic of the life of Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Both of these men had a specific art form that made them famous though: Basquiat through his painting and David Bowie through his musical career. Both of their art forms were seen as off-the-wall, whether it was Basquiat’s graffiti inspired doodling, or Bowie’s over the
top stage rock. Basquiat’s colorful and seemingly random style of painting could easily be compared to David Bowie’s colorful (and seeming random) approach to his own art. Both artists
took influence from their predecessors, yet took the concepts they used to new and ever-expanding heights.