| Detail of Self-Portrait by Jean-Michel Basquiat (1984) |
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s short life reads like a kind of Rakes Progress of Eighties New York: from teenage graffiti artist to art world superstar to heroin-induced death aged 27, all in under a decade. But Basquiat has become much more than an icon of monetarist-era excess. Thirty years on from his tragic demise, his status as one of the key artists of our age appears to be actually rising – particularly among the young – a position reflected in extraordinary prices; the $110.5 million (£85 million) achieved earlier this year for Untitled 1982 is the highest price ever paid for an American artist at auction.