In this 1988 portrait, Jean-Michel holds a copy of Jack’s Kerouac’s 1958 novella, The Subterraneans, showing his kinship with the Beat Generation. Known for its rejection of materialism and standard narrative values, the movement celebrated spirituality, exploration, and experimentation. Ideals that also resonated with Jean-Michel. In an article for Shirn Magazine, Johanna Laub wrote, “For the Beat writers, the most impor­tant thing was expressing the lives they were living in a way that was as unfil­tered as possible. Their semi- auto­bi­o­graph­ical, semi-fictional texts were steeped in an urgency to make their own voices heard. Inspired by the music of Bebop, spon­taneity, impro­vi­sa­tion, speed and indi­vid­u­ality were primary elements for them – just as they were for Basquiat.” This poster was used to promote his final exhibition, which ran from April 29 to June 11. Ph. Jerome Schlomoff, 1988.