Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Ernok), acrylic and oil stick on canvas mounted on tied wood supports, 1982 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT: KING PLEASURE
Starrett-Lehigh Building
601 West Twenty-Sixth St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Daily through January 1, $27-$65
Family Day: Saturday, August 27, $15 advance tickets for children thirteen and under
kingpleasure.basquiat.com
At this point, Jean-Michael Basquiat has been dead longer than he was alive; he died of a heroin overdose in 1988 at the untimely age of twenty-seven. Since then his life has become legend, and his legacy has ballooned to epic proportions, although he was justifiably famous even before he passed away. When one hears the Brooklyn native’s name, thoughts instantly emerge of his mentor, Andy Warhol; such films as Downtown 81 (in which he played himself) and Basquiat (in which he was portrayed by Jeffrey Wright, and David Bowie played Warhol) and the documentaries The Radiant Child and Rags to Riches; sex and drug abuse; his 1985 appearance on the cover of the New York Times magazine; blockbuster exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum, the Whitney, and the Brant Foundation; and, of course, the enormous amounts his works sell for at auction, including an untitled 1982 painting that sold at Sotheby’s for $110.5 million in 2017 and another that went for $85 million at Phillips this past May.
His family recently decided to turn the focus on Basquiat the human being and his art, eschewing all the meta, resulting in the exhibition “King Pleasure,” curated by his sisters Lisane Basquiat and Jeanine Heriveaux and his stepmother, Nora Fitzpatrick, now extended at the Starrett-Lehigh Building in Chelsea through January 1. It’s an expensive ticket — $45 for adults, or $65 to skip the line, with pricy merch in the shop — but the show, consisting of works held by his estate and rarely displayed to the public, offers a fascinating look at who Basquiat was away from all the fame and (mis)fortune.
“The decision to curate an exhibition and write this catalogue devoted to Jean-Michel’s artwork from the family’s collection did not come easily,” Jeanine writes in the catalog. “The impetus to do this stemmed from conversations we had that his works needed to be seen and not hidden away in a warehouse. This is not meant to be a scholarly exhibition and book on Jean-Michel but a fresh perspective told from our family’s point of view. Creating the themes, choosing the works, and revisiting our childhood memories and family stories has been joyful and profoundly healing for my sister Lisane, our stepmother Nora, and me. Carefully going through what he left behind — books, hundreds of VHS movies, his collections of African sculpture, toys, and other objects, and his many sketchbooks and notes — has afforded us an even richer understanding of our brother now as adults.”
Lisane adds, “What you hold in your hands is a celebration of the life, legacy, and voice of Jean-Michel Basquiat, and I want to open it with a note of gratitude: thank you for seeing him.”
Designed by British architect Sir David Adjaye and named for a 1987 Basquiat painting inspired by jazz vocalist King Pleasure, the show features more than two hundred objects spread across twelve thousand square feet, divided into such sections as “Blue Ribbon,” “Ideal,” “Royalty,” “Those Who Dress Better Can Receive Christ,” and “Irony of Negro Policeman.” The path takes visitors through childhood and teen drawings, family photos and home movies, notebooks, a re-creation of the family dining room and living room (with video projections) and Basquiat’s Great Jones St. studio, his actual bicycle, his birth announcement, video reminiscences, and a generous amount of his paintings and drawings. Told chronologically, the story introduces us to Basquiat the person, beginning with drawings of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Gumby and Pokey, and Captain America and Dr. Radium. His combination of colorful images with hand-scribbled text was evident from an early age, transforming into more magisterial works as he started using acrylic and oil stick and incorporating what would become his trademark crown and striking faces, working on such materials as found wood, doors, canvas, and paper. Longtime Basquiat fans will not be disappointed by the breadth and quality of the art.
Untitled (Love) from 1984 features the word “LOVE” painted on an old refrigerator door covered in racing stickers. A series of 1984 paintings on wooden slotted fences and 1982 works on wood supports stand out for their bold freshness. An untitled 1982 painting centered by a red skull and a 1983–84 piece with a green-faced head surrounded by architecturally arranged writing and buildings seem to be alive. Such societal ills as incarceration, debt, corruption, inequity in housing, and police brutality occasionally show up in his work. Jailbirds depicts two policemen beating a young person with their batons.
Basquiat pays tribute to boxing legends Ezzard Charles and Sugar Ray Robinson, such art historical figures as Leonardo da Vinci, Peter Paul Rubens, and Gerard ter Borch, and, most dramatically, jazz great Charlie Parker, who gets his own room. The exhibit also includes silkscreens Warhol made of Jeanine and their parents, Gerard (who would often watch boxing with the kids on Saturday nights) and Matilde; a rare cityscape from 1981–82; and a 1977 drawing that contains only the phrase “the conveyor belt of life” in small letters, as if Basquiat already knew what he would be in for.
Personal exhibition immerses visitors into the world of Jean-Michel Basquiat (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
His re-created studio features dozens of original works, a record cover he designed, books and VHS tapes he owned, and tools he used. Items he collected (dolls, toys, masks, small sculptures from the Ivory Coast, cameras) are lined up in rows behind glass. Much of the music you hear throughout the exhibition has been compiled as a special Spotify playlist with songs by Parker, John Coltrane, George Michael, UB40, the Who, Elton John, Jimi Hendrix, and others; Basquiat himself was part of an experimental band called Gray. And yes, there are photos of Basquiat hanging out with the glitterati, but they are not as interesting as everything else. The show concludes with a pair of murals he made for the Michael Todd VIP Room at the Palladium, highlighted by the phenomenal forty-one-foot-long Nu Nile.
“Jean-Michel’s success was a double-edged sword. He felt quite a bit of pressure. He was so ahead of his time, and he was also very young,” Lisane writes in the catalog. “In spite of that success, though, he was still seen as ‘the other’ by the art world establishment; he didn’t fit in anywhere, really. Being put into a position of having to constantly correct how people saw him deeply annoyed Jean-Michel. . . . It frustrated him to defend himself against people’s prejudices, stereotypes, and assumptions. Jean-Michel was on a journey to figure out where he belonged and what he was going to do with his particular set of circumstances.” (To find out more, check out “Forum Basquiat,” a panel discussion with Lisane Basquiat, Jeanine Heriveaux, and Sir David Adjaye, moderated by Ileen Gallagher, that was held on July 10.)
His family has done him a great service with this deeply personal exhibition, which gives visitors a different kind of understanding of who Jean-Michel was and where he came from.