Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child

Untitled [Two Crabs], 1984 via A SAMO resource

Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child

a new documentary

directed by Tamra Davis

Ever since I wrote the essay, “Reflecting on Basquiat,” I’ve felt a mixture of awe and curiosity about the artist’s life. Here is our chance to watch never-seen-before footage, and to hear the artist speak about his art in his own words. No doubt there is a hype machine and it continues. Perhaps that’s why the Variety review of the new documentary reads, “a tender ode from one friend to another, but it’s also another wheel in the hype machine that persists around the late, famed painter who blew apart the art scene in the 1980s. That it is both at the same time will complicate reaction to the talking-heads-heavy doc, which likely will play to a select art-savvy crowd worldwide.” Despite the hype, many of us will still be able to connect to the fearlessly original and “radiant child” Jean-Michel Basquiat.