Why does Jean-Michel Basquiat mean so much to us?

Since so many people are reacting to the Tiffany’s ad with Beyonce and Jay-Z posing in front of a Basquiat painting, am re-sharing this story I wrote about him for the Miami Herald in August, 2016. I knew Basquiat a tiny bit in the80's, and was part of the downtown scene that embraced him and where he rose up as an artist, so I bring that experience to this piece.

My story deals with much of what’s brought up by the Tiffany ad: the complicated, expanding conversation that Basquiat provokes around art, value, commodification, pop culture, race/ism, and why he fascinates us more…