Those folks who are not moved by Basquiat’s work are usually unable to think of it as “great” or even “good” art. Certainly this response seems to characterize much of what mainstream art critics think about Basquiat. Unmoved, they are unable to speak meaningfully about the work. Often with no subtlety or tact, they “diss” the work by obsessively focusing on Basquiat’s life or the development of his career, all the while insisting that they are in the best possible position to judge the work’s value and significance. A stellar example of this tendency is Adam Gopnik’s piece in the New Yorker. [Adam Gopnik, “Madison Avenue Primitive,” New Yorker, Nov. 9 1992, pp. 137–139]