Jean-Michel Basquiat: A Voice From the Streets and Beyond Jean-Michel Basquiat’s story is one of startling ascent, a collision of street art rebellion and high art recognition. Born in Brooklyn in 1960 to Haitian and Puerto Rican parents, his early life was marked by movement – first leaving home as a teenager, then navigating the vibrant, often turbulent, downtown New York scene of the late 1970s. This wasn’t a world of formal training or established galleries; it was a crucible forged in graffiti, noise bands, and the raw energy of a city grappling with its own identity. His early moniker,…