Rebecca Nemser

“The scene when BASQUIAT is paint­ing — the Char­lie Park­er and Max Roach riff is from his record col­lec­tion. It’s very heady at that moment…Success is when you’re mak­ing the work of art. The moment of per­fect sonorous bliss.”

BASQUIAT cap­tures the artist’s yearn­ing and anguish, moments of bliss and the sheer phys­i­cal plea­sure of mak­ing art. His lat­er descent into drugs, lone­li­ness, con­fu­sion and despair is tru­ly trag­ic — you feel him pur­sued by the Furies of greed, racism, and dis­ease, track­ing him inex­orably down.