Basquiat

Van de Weghe is pleased to present, in its newly opened East Hampton gallery at 66 Newtown Lane, an exhibition of works on paper by Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988).  The works date from the early 1980s and focus on the figure as subject. The selection of works on view highlights the intensity of the artist’s gesture as well as a rich vocabulary of iconography and symbolism. 

Basquiat is among the most important American artists of the latter half of the 20th century. A self-taught East Village graffiti artist, he began his career circa 1980 at the age of 19 and in a single decade secured his place in art history, becoming a superstar of the art world.  In spite of the artist’s death in 1988, he was extremely prolific and there is a seemingly endless depth and breadth to his output.

Untitled (Figure Holding Up Fish), 1981 depicts a totem-like figure standing on the shore, arms protruding horizontally.  A fish hangs from each like weights on a scale. Zigzags of red and blue waves are stacked behind him.  Basquiat’s uncensored mark-making conveys an urgency that is at odds with the figure’s mask-like face which betrays little.  The exhibition contains two Untitled works from 1982, the artist’s most productive year.  The first, a figure from the waist up, rendered in bold, black oilstick.  We see the influence of Gray’s Anatomy, a book given to the artist by his mother while recovering from being hit by a car as a child, which made a lasting impression on him.  Basquiat’s line speaks volumes, giving a sense of the figure’s insides.  It twists and pulsates, evoking muscles, tendons and veins; it shifts to hard and straight and skeletal with the sharp curve of ribs that contain the figure’s left side.   A second work from 1982 presents a large-mouthed figure grimacing, smears of yellow over its eyes.  The figure’s head is topped by Basquiat’s signature drawing of a crown which is then encircled by a halo or a crown of thorns. The figure is at once a king, a saint, and a sinner.