Basquiat’s revenge -- making fools

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/may/19/jean-michel-basquiat-us-art-record-85m-sale

Jean-Michel Basquiat, now he was a hell of a man. A ‘graffiti artist’ with a spray can in his hip pocket vandalizing garage doors, coming on all wild and freaky, such a natural, so unpolished. I’ve seen the work of real graffiti artists, some of the best on boxcars out of the southwest where hispanic kids plot out color schemes and graphics, take a chance on beatings and arrest to get their art out, to have it seen, and I don’t mind stops at railroad crossings, but that isn’t what Jean-Michel was doing. His was stick figure impotent rage, his dissent in spray paint was more like an ongoing tantrum. He made city life uglier, a minor league menace.

I can see Jean-Michel’s resume is impeccable, found in the street, rode Warhol’s rocket to stardom, dead in seven years from OD, all perfect career moves, and now his finite reserve of genius is up for bids -- perfect merchandizing. It’s the art, so transcendent, so illuminating, so deep and profound that’s worth all that money, no doubt, but let me ask you a question, just between us two. If you were to see this same painting leaned against the wall at the goodwill, in the stacks at an art school, would you give a hundred for it? Would you carry it home to spouse and say ‘look at this work of genius I just bought,’ and try to hang it in the living room? How would you like to wake up and see it everyday? I’m guessing this hideous trite image, already imprinted on everything from surfboards to baby blankets, wouldn’t help digest the oatmeal, and knowing some billionaire just bought his own fame for paying stupid money could cause one to lose it. 

This is all stupid, and over a hundred million dollars won’t make it smarter, doesn’t help at all. Evil and corrosive, I couldn’t say, but this headline across the universe will just confuse art students, give unlimited license to college faculties, and decimate an indigenous population of working artists by discouraging and demoralizing their potential audience, average people curious about and interested in art. Revulsion and contempt is what I feel, but at least that’s something say the burned out, sensation sodden, nihilistic high rollers who use art the way they use each other, and who don’t see art at all.