Radiant Child – Movie Review

“Jean-Michel Basquiat:  The Radiant Child” is a documentary about the artist
based on and loosely built around a rare interview conducted by his friend,
Tamra Davis.  You would think that their friendship would make for a more
interesting interview or provide more insight than someone who didn’t know him,
but this is not the case.  “Radiant Child” fails at expounding on its subject
any further than what one could glean from watching the 1996 movie, “Basquiat”.
The precise thing that might have given her an edge in creating this documentary
is also the thing which holds it back:  their friendship.  While understandably
protective of its subject, this restraint keeps the viewer from discovering
anything truly revelatory about Jean-Michel Basquiat.
The film does excel, however, in giving a thorough history lesson of the early
1980’s art scene in New York City in which Basquiat played a key role.  He first
mades waves throughout the Lower East Side as the graffiti artist SAMO (as in
same ‘ol shit).  It helped brand him and stand out in a sea of artists that had
flocked to New York including Fab 5 Freddy, Julian Schnabel, Madonna and Keith
Haring.  He mixed crude scrawlings with words and phrases and eventually caught
the attention of gallery owner Annina Nosei who bought him his first real canvas
and art supplies and let him use her basement to paint.  This proved to be a
very profitable gamble for Nosei, as Basquiat’s first show sold out in fifteen
minutes.  That irony is not to be lost.
Basquiat became the darling of, not only New York City, but of the art world in
general, literally overnight.  His use of bright colors, brash strokes and
crossed-out words made him a unique talent and instant star.  He became the face
of the Urban Renaissance.  (Even today, you can buy Basquiat Reeboks.  What is
more urban than sneakers, I ask you?)
As acclaimed as he became, not everybody was clamoring to showcase his work.  He
was not held in the same regard by some gallery owners as other artists of the time,
Julian Schnabel and David Salle.  Basquiat seemed to feel that he was the token
black in a primarily white art world and, even though it had given him much, had its
limits.  Frustrated by the glass ceiling, heroin enters stage right.
Despite the cracks that were starting to show, Andy Warhol remained one of
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s most devoted admirers.  Their friendship had an odd
foundation.  For Basquiat, knowing Warhol gave him validity as an artist.  For
Warhol, aligning with Basquiat kept him relevant.  It was, however, a very real
friendship and Warhol’s death in 1987 is speculated by all that knew him to be
the begininng of the end.  The loss of his loudest cheerleader and most devout
fan was the proverbial last straw for an increasingly disillusioned Basquiat.
He died of a heroin overdose in 1988 at just 27 years old.
Although “Radiant Child” does not offer a lot of new information about
Jean-Michel Basquiat, it is worth seeing.  The photos, interviews and artwork from the period shows how electric and boundary busting Manhattan in the early 1980’s was and saves the film from being just another stale story about just another tortured artist bent on self destruction.

“Nobody loves a genius child,
Kill him and let his soul run wild.”
“Genius Child” by Langston Hughes from which the title
of the documentary was inspired