Jean-Michel Basquiat was born in Brooklyn in 1960 to a Haitian-American father and a Puerto Rican mother. Being born into a very diverse cultural background gave him a ton of inspiration that he plowed into his work. When Basquiat was a child, he began drawing on sheets of paper his father, an accountant, would bring home from his office. His mother noticed this and would take him to The Brooklyn Museum which pushed him to explore his artistic talents. Completely self-taught.

In 1969 Basquiat was in a very severe car accident and as he was recovering he received a copy of Gray’s Anatomy from his mother. The book became the foundation of his work which featured anatomical drawings and prints.

When he first started getting noticed it was under his pseudonym “SAMO.” He would tag subway trains and Manhattan buildings with seriously cryptic aphorisms. People quickly started to see his crown motifs popping up all around New York.

“I’d say my mother gave me all the primary things. The art came from her”

Years before, Andy Warhol was born in Pittsburgh in 1928 to working-class parents who immigrated from Eastern Slovakia. When Warhol was a child, he suffered from many ailments (seems like there’s a theme here). Some were neurological and others were skin issues. Because of these disorders, he was often kept home from school. And during those times he would read comics and Hollywood magazines playing with paper cutouts.

When he was in elementary school, he took Tam O’Shanter art classes at Carnegie Institute (Carnegie Museum of Art). His father started to recognize his talent and saved up money for Warhol to attend the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University).

Throughout his life, and especially in his early life, Warhol was obsessed with his physical imperfections. In response to this, he would do many things, like put together different looks with his clothing, wigs, cosmetics, and even plastic surgery to change the shape of his nose. His lifelong interest in beauty and skincare even made its way into his work.

Around the same time as Basquiat, Keith Haring was born in 1958 in a small Dutch farm community in Pennsylvania. His love for art started at a very early age because his father was an amateur cartoonist. While growing up, they would draw simple shapes like circles and transform them into animals and other figures. The early exposure had a lasting impact on his artistic style with bold lines and playful imagery.
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Haring grew up in a very conservative religious community. And he really struggled with this. In his teenage years, he experimented with drugs like marijuana and LSD and became fully engrained in the counter-culture movement of the 70s. He experimented with abstract drawings and continued when he went to study at Pittsburgh Art School for commercial art. He dropped out but it led to his first solo expedition making him officially a professional artist.

“The use of commercial projects has enabled me to reach millions of people whom I would not have reached by remaining an unknown artist. I assumed, after all, that the point of making art was to communicate and contribute to culture.”

Breaking through

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What’s unique about these artists is that they all converged in New York City in the late 70s and early 80s and instantly became in each other’s circles. They had their own breakthrough moments that would spearhead their impact in the art and pop culture world.

Basquiat’s moment happened in the early 80s when he transitioned from being a graffiti artist under SAMO to becoming a major figure in the Neo-Expressionist movement. His graffiti work on the streets of New York caught the attention of the art world, which led to his first major exhibit in 1981 at the New Wave show.

On top of that, he was really unorthodox. He would use random surfaces like doors and windows for his work. And it featured African American figures, the crowns we mentioned (which symbolized royalty and power), and references to his fascination with the human body.

Similar to Basquiat, Warhol had a groundbreaking moment. Are you familiar with the art piece with a series of Campbell’s soup cans? We’re sure you’ve seen it. That piece of art (in the early 1960s) caused Warhol to explode. It was the beginning of a movement he pioneered known as Pop Art.

What was really interesting about his work was his obsession with consumerism, fame, and death. He took a commercial approach to his work, using silkscreen techniques that blended fine art and advertising. And he did this all in his studio dubbed “The Factory.” It’s where he produced some of his iconic works.

Keith Haring was very smart about how he would get his work into the public eye. Taking influence from his childhood, and sprinkling a little bit of Warhol, in the early 80s he would create chalk drawings on empty advertising boards in the NYC subway stations. Because it was in such a public place, it made his art accessible, which was one of his main pillars as an artist: democratizing art by bringing it outside of galleries and into everyday life.

What this did was give him a very diverse and loyal audience. In 1986 he opened Pop Shop, where he sold affordable items featuring his artwork. It challenged elitism head-on, while also using his platform to raise awareness for social issues like AIDS, Apartheid, and LGBTQ+ rights.

Bumps and bruises

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Basquiat, Warhol, and Haring’s relationship with each other didn’t come without its bumps and bruises. Especially with Basquiat and Warhol.

Their relationship was seen as a mentor-protege because Warhol focused on elevating Basquiat’s career. They collaborated on several works, but despite their friendship, there was an underlying tension because of differences in their backgrounds and Basquiat being in a particularly white-dominated art society. There was even a public perception that Warhol was exploiting Basquiat because of his rising fame and popularity.

Haring and Warhol were a bit different. That’s because Haring admired Warhol from afar. Especially Warhol’s ability to merge commercialism with art. They had mutual respect and friendship, while Haring took major influence from Warhol in his approach to developing his own style of art.

Haring and Basquiat had more of a rivalry. But it was a healthy one. Because both had similar upbringings there was mutual respect. Both started as street artists, and both wanted to address social issues with their work. But they did compete for attention in a buzzing New York art scene and it put a strain on their relationship at times. But it never overshadowed what they were trying to express in their work.

Basquiat’s work positioned him between street culture and high art. His work showed the raw energy of New York City's underground scene. And his work was so important in the movement of street culture influencing mainstream art. He was unique in the fact that his work attacked hard-hitting conversations… things like race, power, and identity. His goal was to challenge the art world’s predominately white and elitist structures by bringing attention to African American and black heroes.

And his work still stands up. It’s seen in fashion collabs, referenced by major musicians, and continues to influence mainstream pop culture. Work that is truly timeless.

America has always been obsessed with consumerism and fame. It’s a known fact. And that was particularly relevant during Warhol’s prime. He was so fascinated with it, that he would often say “in the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” This is the original quote to what we now commonly say: “15 minutes of fame.”

His studio, The Factory, was a hub for celebrities and artists to meet head-on. Celebrities like Mick Jagger, Edie Sedgwick, and Loud Reed were often at The Factory mingling with artists. And on top of that, he was one of the first artists to embrace the media and tech as part of his art process… even producing films like Chelsea Girls while also heavily involving himself in music production.

His influence is relevant today. His work still appears in fashion collections and even on TV Shows like The Simpsons.

Taking strategies from both Basquiat and Warhol, Keith Haring was a bonafide activist. It bled through him as a person, especially in his work. He wanted art to be accessible no matter who you were. And that resonated with a massive audience. His subway drawings made him famous very fast, and he quickly became a global figure because of how large-scale his murals were (and how they addressed social issues head-on).

A key pop culture moment was Haring’s “Crack is Wack” mural in 1986. It was a huge mural that addressed the crack cocaine epidemic taking over New York at the time. It became an iconic piece of social commentary in pop culture. And now his images are everywhere and are engrained in streetwear fashion globally.

Folks were influenced (big time)

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Basquiat, Warhol, and Haring have had a massive impact on contemporary art. They birthed several new movements that have created some of the greatest artists of our time.

Basquiat’s influence was the cornerstone of the Neo-Expressionist movement which rejected minimalism and conceptual art that was popular in the 70s. His work was bold, chaotic, and symbolic. Current artists like Banksy and Kehinde Wiley attribute their work to Basquiat because they embrace emotional intensity and personal expression in their work.

Specifically Banksy, his street art is meant to challenge societal norms and owes much of his influence to Basquiat because of his blending of graffiti culture and high art.

Warhol was one of the first artists to truly embrace commercialism as art. And because he transformed everyday objects into high art, it laid the foundation for the current art scene. Artists like Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami, and Damien Hirst blur the lines between fine art and commercialism just like Warhol did.

And you’ve probably seen some of their work. Like Koon’s Ballon Dog sculptures and Takashi Murakami’s design collaborations with Louis Vuitton and his continued work merging pop culture with high art.

Haring’s ethos of “art is for everybody” had a major impact on contemporary artists. His visual language in his work really spoke with people. Street artists and muralists today use urban environments as canvases for social commentary.

Artist like Shepard Fairey (Obey) is known for his Obama Hope poster and draws inspiration from Haring’s work of incorporating graphic design and activism. Not only that, but the global mural movement is a direct attribution to Haring’s works… where cities commission large-scale public artwork making art accessible to everyone.

Parlour's perspective

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Together, Basquiat, Warhol, and Haring left a major mark on pop culture by breaking down barriers between art, commerce, and social commentary. At Parlour, we love to see legacies continue to influence fashion, music, media, street art, and even activism. It’s what we live and breathe by. Pop culture is engrained in us and continues to build itself into society in really unique and interesting ways.

These artists fundamentally changed how art interacts with pop culture. They blurred the lines between high art and everyday life. They made art more available and addressed issues head-on. Their visual language will forever be a fabric of our pop cultural history.