Jean was black and had to present himself as separate from graffiti somehow. (…) It was really (Keith) who brought graffiti into the SoHo galleries.

(…) There was no liquor so everyone came high on mushrooms, pot and mostly hallucinogens like ecstasy and acid. “My strongest association with Keith was at the Paradise Garage club. Running into Andy Warhol or Keith Haring was just a typical night out: I was so frightened that I moved out to the Martha Washington Hotel on 29th and Madison, which was only for women.”īut New York was also the beating heart of a new vibrant art scene. The first night a prostitute was murdered by the infamous “Slasher.” (…) There were cops everywhere and the women who were staying at the hotel were moaning and screaming and cussing at the police officers. On her first night in the City, Suzanne witnesses a murder: It made me wonder if we traded creativity and irreverence for safety and Starbucks at every corner.

It’s hard to imagine that the city described in Widow Basquiat is in fact New York. Kind of like the heroin that the two lovers used to do in the Great Jones loft. This book is as addictive as the nature of Suzanne and the legendary Jean-Michel Basquiat‘s relationship. I am not a fast reader, but I finished Widow Basquiat in 3 days. Suzanne Mallouk’s story starts like many others, but the rest is History. A girl buys a one-way bus ticket to New York with only a few bucks in her pocket. Artists, drug dealers, and pimps own Downtown: a (not so safe) haven for visionary minds. Graffiti is slowly emerging from the Lower East Side’s dark alleys to the trendy galleries. A poetic interpretation like no other, Widow Basquiat is an expression of the unrelenting power of addiction, obsession and love.Picture New York in the 80s. In emotionally resonant prose, award-winning author Jennifer Clement tells the story of the passion that swept Suzanne and Jean-Michel into a short-lived, unforgettable affair.

Thus began a tumultuous and passionate relationship that deeply influenced one of the most exceptional artists of our time.

During the years before his death at the age of 27, he shared his life with his lover and muse, Suzanne Mallouk.Ī runaway from an unhappy home in Canada, Suzanne first met Jean-Michel in a bar on the Lower East Side in 1980. It was where Jean-Michel Basquiat became an avant-garde street artist and painter, swiftly achieving worldwide fame. A hotbed for hip hop, underground culture, and unmatched creative energy, it spawned some of the most significant art of the 20th century. New York City in the 1980s was a mesmerizing, wild place. The beautifully written, deeply affecting story of Jean-Michel Basquiat's partner, her past, and their life together

Widow basquiat review