Jean-Michel Basquiat,
Glenn, 1985. Courtesy Private Collection
Basquiat: Boom for
Real is the first large-scale exhibition in the UK of the work of Haitian-Puerto Rican - American
artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960—1988). One of the most significant painters
of the 20th century, Basquiat came of age in the post-punk underground art
scene in Lower Manhattan in the late 1970s. By 1982, he had gained
international recognition and was the youngest ever artist to participate in
Documenta in Kassel. Basquiat’s vibrant, raw imagery springs from an impressive
erudition, seen in the fragments of bold capitalised text that abound in his
works — offering insights into both his encyclopaedic interests and his
experience as a young artist with no formal training. Since his tragic death in
1988, Basquiat has had remarkably little exposure in the UK – where there is
not a single work in a public collection. Drawing from international museums
and private collections, Basquiat: Boom for Real brings together an outstanding
selection of more than 100 works, many never before seen in Britain, and opens
at Barbican Art Gallery on 21 September 2017.
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Hollywood Africans, 1983. Courtesy Whitney Museum of American Art © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ ADAGP, Paris
Jane Alison, Head of
Visual Arts, said “We are truly thrilled to be staging the first show on
Basquiat in the UK in over 20 years. The creative brilliance and emotive power
of Basquiat continues to have a huge impact and influence on a wide range of
artists, filmmakers and musicians. This will therefore be a rare opportunity
for visitors to see a huge body of some of his most famous and also little
known works in one place.”
Jean-Michel Basquiat's
sisters, Lisane and Jeanine Basquiat said “We are delighted to be working with
the Barbican on this important exhibition, which is so long overdue” Basquiat
first came to the media’s attention in 1978, when he teamed up with his
classmate Al Diaz to graffiti enigmatic statements across the city under the
collective pseudonym SAMO© (which stood for ‘same old, same old bullshit’).
Soon he was making drawings in his own blood; collaging baseball cards and
postcards; and painting on clothing, architectural fragments and increasingly
on enormous canvases. He starred in the film New York Beat with Blondie’s
Debbie Harry (written and produced by Glenn O’Brien with Maripol); appeared in
nine episodes of O’Brien’s cult cable-television show TV Party; and performed
in his experimental band Gray. He collaborated with other artists, most
famously with Andy Warhol; created murals and installations for notorious New
York nightclubs including the Mudd Club and Area; and in 1983 produced ‘Beat Bop’,
a classic hip hop record with K-Rob and Rammellzee.
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled, 1982. Courtesy Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen,
Rotterdam. Photo Studio Tromp, Rotterdam
Highlights of the
Barbican’s exhibition include a partial reconstruction of the first body of
work that Basquiat exhibited, made for Diego Cortez’s watershed group show New
York / New Wave at PS1 in February 1981. These exhibits are brought together
for the first time in 35 years, allowing visitors to understand how Basquiat so
quickly won the admiration of his fellow artists and critics. The Barbican
exhibition continues with an exploration of his energetic, often collaborative,
work as the prodigy of the downtown scene – from the birth of SAMO© to his
relationship with Warhol. In the downstairs spaces, new scholarship sheds light
on some of his most acclaimed paintings and drawings. A famously self-taught
artist, Basquiat sampled from an extraordinary breadth of source material –
from anatomical drawings to bebop jazz to silent film – but many of these
reference points have remained relatively opaque until now. With the support of
the Basquiat family, the curators have conducted extensive new research, which
will allow these important works to be understood as never before.
Basquiat: Boom for
Real is curated by Dr Dieter Buchhart and Barbican Art Gallery Curator Eleanor
Nairne and organised in collaboration with the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt.
Barbican Art Gallery,
London, 0845 120 7550, www.barbican.org.uk/artgallery
Opening hours:
Saturdays to Wednesdays, 10am – 6pm
Thursdays &
Fridays, 10am – 9pm
Bank Holiday Mondays:
12noon – 6pm, Bank Holiday Fridays: 12noon – 9pm
Exhibition
Basquiat: Boom for
Real, 21 September 2017 – 28 January 2018, is curated by the Barbican,
London and organised in collaboration with the
Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt
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