From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Jean-Michel Basquiat (December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist. His career in art began as a graffiti artist in New York City in the late 1970s, and in the 1980s produced Neo-expressionist painting. Basquiat died of a heroin overdose on August 12, 1988, at the age of 27. Description above from the Wikipedia article Jean-Michel Basquiat, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.​