Quote friom the movie "Basquiat" Directed by Julian Schnabel

I was watching the movie Basquiat. I heard this spoken and I had to stop. It completely arrested me and I felt it worthy of quoting and remembering..... The narration may have been by the director Julian Schnable.

"What is it about art anyway that we give it so much importance? Artists are respected by the poor because what they do is an honest way to get out of the slums using one's sheer self as a medium. The money earned is proof pure and simple that the value of that individual is the artist. The picture a mother's son does in jail hangs on her wall, and is proof that beauty is possible even in the most wretched, and this is a much different idea than art is a scam and a ripoff. But you could never explain this to someone who uses God's gift to enslave, but you have used God's gift to be free."

Basquiat was being interviewed and here are several quotes from him that I loved.

"People are generally crude...I don't know that many refined people."

The question was posed to him by the interviewer....
"Do you consider yourself a painter or a black painter? Basquiat responded....

"Oh I use a lot of colors besides black." (I love it!!!)

And something he said that I would like to put on a T Shirt....
"I don't exploit.....No."