Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) - In This Case - Giclée...

Giclée print of Jean-Michel Basquiat (*) Reproduction of the artwork “In This Case” (**) a work created by Basquiat in 1983. Luxury edition on high-grade Monte Carlo watercolor paper (300 g/m2). Print authorized by Artestar New York Copyright of the Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Includes Certificate of Authenticity (COA). *** LAST COPY *** Specifications: - Support dimensions: 50 x 48 cm - Stroke/mark dimensions: 40 x 38 cm - Condition: Excellent (this work has never been framed or exhibited, and has always been kept in a professional art folder, so it is offered in perfect condition). The work will be carefully handled and packaged in a reinforced flat cardboard package. Shipping will be tracked and certified, operated by top transport companies (UPS / DPD / DHL / FedEx). The shipment will also include full insurance for the final value of the work with full reimbursement in case of loss or damage, at no cost to the buyer. (*) Jean-Michel Basquiat was the eldest of the three children of Matilde Andrades and Gerard Basquiat. His father was a financially solid Haitian accountant and his mother a Puerto Rican graphic designer of great prestige in her profession. Jean-Michel grew up in a torn family environment; his parents divorced and, because of this, he had to change schools many times. He studied at a private Catholic school, later at a public school, and finally, at 16, he enrolled in City-As-School, a school for highly gifted adolescents, from which he was expelled for rebellion a year before graduating. Already in his youth he came into contact with the urban subculture, related to drug use and street gangs. In 1977, together with Al Díaz, he entered the world of graffiti, painting on subway cars and in the SoHo area, a New York neighborhood where art galleries proliferate. The following year he left school a year before graduating from high school and left home to live for two years on the streets, in abandoned buildings or with his friends in Lower Manhattan, surviving by selling postcards and T-shirts that he himself decorated. He continued to devote himself to graffiti; his paintings and writings carried a lot of poetic and philosophical load, but above all satirical. The pseudonym of his alter ego shared with Al Díaz was SAMO (short for “Same Old Shit,” i.e., “the same old crap,” with which they signed their tags and graffiti with cryptic messages. The use of this name was decisive in his life. These murals bore inscriptions such as “SAMO saves idiots” or “SAMO ends brainwashing by religion, the politics of nothing, and false philosophy.” An article about SAMO’s street writing published in The Village Voice was the first sign that the art world was taking an interest in him. The artist had several relationships that influenced his work; one of the most significant was with artist Andy Warhol. Also, on a romantic level, he was involved with several women, one of the most well-known today being Madonna. Lower Manhattan was the area where they lived at that time; in 1982 they began to spend more time together and go to parties in galleries. A topic that united them: she mentions in an interview, “I was a big fan of Miles Davis and Charlie Parker.” In 1988, exhibitions were installed in Paris and New York, and in April of that year he tried to overcome his addictions and retired to his home in Hawaii. He returned to New York in June, announcing that he had freed himself from the addictions, but on August 12, 1988, at 27 years old, he died of a heroin overdose, becoming the most successful visual artist in the history of African descent art. He is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. Throughout his brief but intense artistic career he would hold more than 40 solo exhibitions and participate in around 100 group shows. Self-promotion and advertising clamor were priority factors for Basquiat, as they had previously been for Andy Warhol or Julian Schnabel. Neo-expressionism came to dominate over appropriationism, partly due to the strong economic rise that elevated art prices and, especially, painting, and partly thanks to the support of gallerists and collectors. Criticism, however, was not unanimous in its assessment, and there was frequent denunciation of the lack of theoretical basis of neo-expressionist discourse. It was claimed that the art practiced by neo-expressionists lacked any political or social meaning, it was just merchandise and, therefore, subject to the swings and fluctuations of the market. Neo-expressionist painting was reduced to a consumer product and, as such, to a creatively disqualified and vulgar act. (**) No subject is more powerful or sought-after in Jean-Michel Basquiat’s work (1960-1988) than the singular skull. For this enigmatic artist, the human head was more than an obsession. As suggested by the title of “In This Case” (1983), the head is a box or cage that houses a gear-like machine full of impulses and ideas. This work stands among Basquiat’s greatest achievements: a cranial abyss into which the artist has poured the contents of his visual imagination, blending centuries of stylistic influence. “In This Case” is one of the three monumental skulls Basquiat painted. The painterly intensity and immediacy present in this work are unparalleled in Basquiat’s oeuvre.

Estimación:150€

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