He said I can’t go back to that place all they do is shout
Mary Boone is a NYC art dealer with galleries in Soho, Chelsea and on 5th Avenue above the men’s Bergdorf Goodman department. She used to represent Jean Michel Basquiat. Problems between the equally charismatic Basquiat and Mary Boone have been a constant part of their relationship.
Mary Boone represented Mr. Basquiat for four years. She called him a talented but erratic artist, often distracted by the glittery art world that seized on his work in the early 1980’s.
‘’He was too much into what people said about him. If your goal is to make great paintings, then you listen to an internal voice, to yourself,'’ she said.
‘’He was ambivalent about his work and his success. The only thing he wasn’t ambivalent about was being a painter,'’ said Miss Boone, who added that he often expressed concern about whether his works were popular and selling well.
By the time he joined Miss Boone in 1982, she said, he also had become a regular user of addictive drugs, although he denied having a habit. Other acquiantances said Mr. Basquiat picked up a heroin habit in the early 1980’s, and increased his use after he became wealthy. Several friends and business associates said the artist was frequently offered drugs, both by dealers and private collectors, in exchange for his work.
Miss Boone said Mr. Basquiat’s use of drugs made him an inconsistent artist and sometimes rendered him virtually incapable of working.
artwork { Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Mary Boone as a punching bag), 1984-85 }
