In regards to "Remembering Jean Michel Basquiat",

I offer this 2010 posting:

When someone discovers I associated with New York's "Downtown" art/music scene of the 70's and 80's--- I'm asked, 'Did you know this person or that person?'  

Their  inquisitiveness is often driven by a book, movie, documentary, they read or watched. 

BACK STORY: 20 years ago, the author Phoebe Hoban called me. She was writing a Basquiat biography and asked for my input. Her seriousness won me and I participated in a Q and A with her over the course of a week. Prior to this, I had been interviewed by a film-maker (who's name I don't remember. I think he called himself Krzysztof)  He had envisioned a dramatic feature film on Jean and was seeking anecdotes. Krzysztof's movie was never produced, but I did hear rumor the material he collected and the first draft script he wrote was purchased by the artist Julian Schnabel, who used portions of it in his debut film "BASQUIAT", with Jeffrey Wright.

  JEAN: AN ACUTELY ADJUSTED ANTENNA  

Before uneasiness and drugs stole him, Jean's phenomenal rise in the art-world was an exciting thing to watch. Artistic acclaim is rare. Few emerge.

Mutual interest, youthful encounter, dark humor, and self medication, brought Jean and I together. Watching him rise as quickly as he did made an indelible impression on me, and it was a life lesson. The knowledge I garnered about art and the art world---it's machinations---surpass anything the best art schools could offer---

Now, 30 years later, Jean's life, work, and premature death, have become art mythology.

So when I'm asked about Jean, instead of retelling what I remember and risk distorting facts, I refer my anecdotes in Phoebe Hoban's book, "Basquiat, A Quick Killing in Art".  Because she started writing it shortly after his death, my recollections were fresher then. By turning to that book, I'm assured my "interactions" and "perceptions" are consistent, never veering into whim and fancy. 

In retrospect, I thank God for all the good (and bad!) that has happened to me. I've been given the gift of time and space...

not to die 

--but to live

--to grow and mature! 

I am not the same man represented 3 decades ago in this book. 

I kiddingly say

--- I'm worse!

                                                                                                 JEF BRETSCHNEIDER                                                                                                                               2010