5. School of Visual Arts
In May 1979, Basquiat formed a band called “Channel 9” and later “Gray,” with whom he played clarinet and synthesizer. While a part of “Gray,” he often visited the School of Visual Arts, and this is where he met his lifelong friends Keith Haring and Kenny Scharf. Haring was there for Basquiat during his periods of drug abuse, and the two often discussed the arts and graffiti scenes. After Basquiat’s death, Haring memorialized him with the painting A Pile of Crowns for Jean-Michel Basquiat.
6. Times Square
At The Times Square Show, Basquiat publicly exhibited his art for the first time. Groups called Colab (Collaborative Projects) on the Lower East Side and Fashion Moda in the South Bronx organized the show. Art critics and curators, including Jeffrey Deitch, took note of Basquiat’s art, catapulting him to fame in the New York arts community; a year later, he displayed some of his artworks in the New York/New Wave exhibition at MoMA PS1.
Other artists on display at the Times Square exhibition included postmodernist David Hammons, Kiki Smith, Jenny Holzer, and Joe Lewis. The Times Square Show gave legitimacy to the art of the East Village, including graffiti and street art previously dismissed by art dealers and galleries.