Jean-Michel Basquiat was one of the greatest American artists of all time. A man predestined with distress, suffering, and pain, he dealt with numerous struggles throughout his tragically brief life. His career was short, but he spoke to the hearts of people across the globe through works that are as abstract as they are genius. Basquiat's intentions are hidden to shallow eyes; his artistic capability sometimes undermined by those who do not appreciate his graffiti style, even comparing it to the work of a scribbling kindergartener. Basquiat's style and subject matter is epitomized in his work K (1982) through symbolic and metaphoric use of objects, color, abstraction, and phrases. He touches on the oft occurring themes seen across his works including mental illness, self image and hatred, drug addiction, and outsider's perspective of his own insanity. As with most abstract art, the interpretation is entirely decided by the viewer; Basquiat rarely gave any hints on the concepts of his masterpiece. The diverse subject matter can have a vast array of meaning, however, each symbol, line and color is carefully calculated to put together a bigger picture. 

K looks like an average graffiti piece upon first glance. The sheer abstraction is enough to make one's brain hurt attempting to dissect the artist's intentions. While analyzing the text in depth, some objects stand out to the viewer that share common themes. Basquiat was a well known heroin addict. The phrasing at the top SEPARATION OF THE "K" and the scale in the bottom left tie together the theme of drug addiction. "K" most likely refers to a common unit of hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin, the kilogram. The scale further advances the theme of a kilogram as a unit of drugs. The multiple phrases around the entire picture can be directly traced back to this theme of drug addiction, but the theme of drug addiction is only a necessary starting point to delve deeper into the overall in depth meanings of the work.

Due to his drug addiction and depression, Basquiat displays emotions caused as a direct reaction to those personal issues. The most notable object in the entire image is the multi-colored, beastly in appearance "man". Basquiat is this beast, and while he is doing these drugs, he views himself as a person he is not. He goes as far as to portray himself as a monster, possibly a menace to society, the people he loves, and himself. His face is covered in small, black '6's; Basquiat could be going as far as to consider himself the devil. The heart of the figure is not only empty, which signals depression in its own right, but the heart is on top of the scale referenced earlier. The side of the heart is showed as being heavier than the other side; this literally and figuratively shows that Basquiat has a "heavy heart". Also regarding the heart, there is a lightning bolt attached to a line that directly pierces him. The line is meant to be a needle; the lightning bolt symbolizes heroin as it is the sole factor that keeps him going. It is his energy; heroin has taken over his heart. It appears the needle is also draining the heart of color which could possibly represent his emotions. Drugs have taken over his feelings causing emotions to be felt through his life source: heroin. Addiction is no joke; Basquiat is attempting to accurately give his perspective on his troubles. This leads to the mental complications of the subject.

 The metaphorical displays of mental illness and depression continue with repeated phrases that dominate sections of the art. DISEASE CULTURE is written twice at the bottom. Basquiat is attempting to explain that his depression and drug addictions are obviously abnormal and detrimental to himself. However, he believes that he has a disease, and he is a part of this culture of like-minded individuals. Drug addiction is not a criminal issue in this case; Basquiat has a very real and complicated mental illness that disallows him to escape from his habits. He wants the viewers to understand his mind before they make judgments on his character and his lifestyle. The art further discusses the outside-looking-in perspective of everyone who attempts to interact with him and believes they know what is best for his problems.

Building off of this headspace that Basquiat is in, he then further addresses perspective. He already showed his perspective on his problems with the brutal depiction of himself and his addictions. Now, he addresses the perspective of the outsider with another repeated phrase. AOPKHES may seem like a foreign language or just absolute gibberish, but the phrase is included a total of seven times within the piece. This means it is not there without a definitive theme. In the center of the piece, the phrase is written in green ink, surrounded by a box filled with AOPKHES, circled, and separated into three groups of letters by two lines: AOP, K, and HES. This phrase is a peculiar, drug-riddled way of saying, "I hope he's okay." Basquiat must have been constantly bothered by his peers' and loved ones' repetitive concerns over his condition. The box surrounding the grouping of the repeated phrase symbolizes the closed mindedness or "boxed in" thinking of others. They do not understand what Basquiat himself is going through because they are not him. Suffering from such struggles gives him a feeling of aloneness as he attempts to work his way past his demons. Basquiat feels as if no one understands him; he wants to express his displeasure with their worries and get them to understand the complexity of his problems. The face of the person at the bottom right of the painting also drives home the outsider's perspective. The figure appears to have a negative emotion, either upset or shocked, and appears to be wide eyed and crying. Basquiat feels that the outsider cannot help him; they may even fear him, leading back to the earlier point of his beastly self-interpretation. It's really quite upsetting; he seems to be eternally calling for help because of these mental illnesses. However, Basquiat himself seems to disregard others' input because he does not feel other individuals are capable of giving him the help he desperately requires. 

K is a heavily confusing, mysterious, and cryptic work by Jean-Michel Basquiat. His exact motives will never be revealed due to his passing, but the public probably would have never been blessed with his true intentions even if he lived a full life. That is the exact genius of Basquiat; every piece and painting is meant to mean something to the viewer. In this particular case, his subject matter, symbolization, phrases, and color tackle the heartrending themes of mental illness, drug addiction, self-interpretation, and perspective. If Basquiat were here today, his legacy would have extended into even more of a pop culture icon. It's hard to get bigger than being name-dropped by Jay-Z, Kanye West, J Cole, and multiple other global icons, but his genius and brilliance is hard to ignore by those with an open mind. K proves this brilliance and is the epitome of a Basquiat painting.

