Why Basquiat is Basquiat

Your truth is your art.
Anything otherwise is deception, one way to scam self and society. Not that there is anything wrong in modified/adjusted truth but it is of zero value to self development, mass intellectual and emotional growth and social progress, and as for art even if claimed as such, it is not art.
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Your art is not your truth.
Art is nothing without fantasy, dreams and abstraction. You can start from your truth and develop a surrealist sculpture out of it. You can have your truth in it, but it is of zero artistic value until it gives new perspectives and sensory tastes never experienced before by you or anyone else. Anything less than magical, and it is neither art nor excellence.
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Unfortunately majority of artists(including writers), fail at both. That is why Basquiat is Basquiat. His Untitled painting that sold for $110.5 million (different topic we will revisit), is his truth, which is why it is art, and his art work gifts unique and other worldly sights and experiences to the audience, which is why it is brilliant.