To manifest their respect for the environment, many artists today use recycled materials to make art. However, there are those artists who use recycled materials simply because they can’t afford to buy ex-novo. Take, for example, many Outsider artists.

And other artists, such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, have such a drive to create that they will painting on anything and everything that comes their way.

Basquiat via

Basquiat is now known internationally and one of his paintings can sell for up to $35 million. However, this unique artist was once homeless and often slept in a cardboard box.

Then, around 1979, he met Alexis Adler, a 22 yr old woman from Seattle transplanted to NYC. Eventually Basquiat and Alexis began living together in a cheap apartment on East 12^th St. There Basquiat painted every surface possible including a gold lamé coat Alexis had gotten from a thrift shop. The couple lived together for a year before splitting. Alexis continued to live in the Basquiat painted apartment but now, 35 years later, Alexis has decided to auction off her Basquiatian past.

Adler shows off the coat she bought, only to have Basquiat paint it that night.Photo: NY Post: Anne Wermiel

sweatshirt painted by Basquiat via   Photo: Christie’s

Alexis Adler’s collection at Christie’s

Supreme and the Basquiat Estate collaborating on  two oxford shirts, a long sleeve tee, a few short sleeves, a hoodie, and a M-65 Cassius Clay jacket. via

door painted by Basquiat via

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Francesco Clemente, and Andy Warhol (collaboration). Alba’s Breakfast, 1984 via

Related links: GHOST-HUNTING BASQUIAT IN HIS OLD EAST VILLAGE APARTMENT + Alexis Adler on Her Never-Before-Seen Basquiat Trove + Basquiat Reclining Nude + Jean-Michel Basquiat: 80 Percent Anger and 20 Percent Mystery + The short life of Jean-Michel Basquiat, graffiti artist turned gallery commodity + Jean Michel Basquiat Bio: Graffiti Artist Turned Sociopolitical Force + Basquiat: A Film by Julian Schnabel