Gary Einloth Influential Artists: Jean-Michel Basquiat

Gary Einloth has built a successful career in art and design with the help of great influential artists such as Jean Michel-Basquiat.

Jean Michel Basquiat was an American artist that specialized in Neo expression paintings. He was born on December 22nd, 1960 in Brooklyn, New York and gained attention quickly with his graffiti becoming the most acclaimed contemporary artist in his generation.

Spending a lot of time in Manhattan, New York throughout his professional career, Gary Einloth loves learning from different local artists, seeing and experiencing some of the same things and sights they had once before.

Like Gary Einloth, Jean was a self-taught artist that began drawing very early on in his life. He would draw on sheets of paper that his father would bring home from his accountant based profession. Jean got more into his creative mind and created more drawings, which eventually led to his mother urging him to begin pursuing a career in art.

Jean’s career started in the early 1980s where his amazing brand of contemporary art became increasingly  popular. Jean died in 1988 at the young age of 27, cutting his career short, however, through that time he made remarkable pieces of artwork that are inspirational and immensely creative. Many people admired his work and from this day his work is greatly appreciated globally.

Jean’s work has inspired many graffiti artists to purpose a career in this contemporary art and his creativity started off the trend of graffiti. His paintings where very colorful with controversial phrases that many people admired.

In 1986 Jean went around the world to showcase his work, he traveled to Africa for a show in Ivory Coast and  then exhibited 60 paintings in Germany, which made him the youngest artist ever to showcase his work.

Jean’s life was a very interesting and intriguing one, especially given that his childhood was not easy. In 1968 he had a accident that involved him being bit by a car, with this he was in hospital for many months recovering. During 1968 his parents also separated so he was left with his farther to bring him up along with his other siblings. Furthermore his mother had mental health issues which resulted in her being referred to mental institutions, in which she had many episodes. Jean had run away from his home as a teenager and decided to use his pain to create art. Even with his difficult circumstances he still pursued with what he wanted to do.

In 1987 Jean officially left his family home and was now homeless. He started to live with friends and made an income by selling hand pained t-shirts and postcards that features his artwork. In 1979 he was now creating graffiti and was focusing on SoHo art scene to get himself promoted. He met up with graffiti artists Keith Haring and Kenny Scharf who studied at the School of Visual arts. Jean’s work started to gain more popularity and was quickly turning in a celebrity due to his appearances of live TV shows and parties. Jean collaborated with Andy Warhol in the mid-1980s which showed off their work and became popular.

Jean created a big impact on artists like Gary Einloth and many others back then and continues to inspire many artists today. His life demonstrates that you can be on the streets and work your way up to fame with something you know you’re good at and want to pursue.