The Wry Home
  • Home
  • About
  • Newsletter
  • Categories
    • Home
    • Design
    • In and Around Town
    • Beach
    • Travel
    • Furniture
    • Holiday
    • Entertaining
    • Artwork
    • Gifts
  • Contact

The Wry Home

REASONABLE REDESIGN

  • Home
  • About
  • Newsletter
  • Categories
    • Home
    • Design
    • In and Around Town
    • Beach
    • Travel
    • Furniture
    • Holiday
    • Entertaining
    • Artwork
    • Gifts
  • Contact

Basquiat

November 19, 2020

The MFA in Boston has an incredible Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibit right now.


The exhibit begins in the late 1970’s when Basquiat is 17 and spray painting graffiti on subways and buildings in lower Manhattan under the pseudonym SAMO (“same old sh*t”) with his friend Al Diaz.


Basquiat was born in Brooklyn in 1960, the second of four children. His mother Matilde instilled a love of art in her son by taking him to art museums in Manhattan and enrolling him as a junior member of the Brooklyn Museum of Art.


Basquiat left school in 1978, started working at the Unique Clothing Warehouse in NoHo and, at night, continued to spray paint graffiti as SAMO on neighborhood buildings. The Village Voice published an article about his graffiti in December 1978 and he started showing SAMO montages, using color copies of his works, in 1979. Basquiat also painted clothes and the costume designer Patricia Field started carrying his clothing line in her upscale boutique in the East Village.


During the early 1980s, Basquiat made his breakthrough as a solo artist. He sold his first painting (Cadillac Moon) to Debbie Harry in 1981 for $200 and appeared in her music video “Rapture” in the role originally intended for Grandmaster Flash.


Basquiat painted many pieces on found objects, such as discarded doors and the “Fun Fridge” (above) 1982. There is a great book called “Widow Basquiat” by Jennifer Clement that is about Suzanne Mallouk, the almost constant companion of Basquiat from the early days on the Lower East Side. Suzanne sold their refrigerator (above) to Sotheby’s for $5,000 and subsequently, Andy Warhol bought it. Suzanne is not mentioned much, if at all, in this exhibit. She and Jean-Michel met at the Night Birds bar in 1980 when she was a bartender and they lived together on and off until his death in 1988. He called her Venus.


Suzanne is featured in many of Jean-Michel’s paintings – the letter “S” appears for her and the word “Venus.”


Basquiat become an accepted member of the upper echelons of a 1980s art scene ~Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and Cy Twombly – and the youngest artist to ever take part in Documenta in Germany. His neo-expressionist paintings started being exhibited in galleries and museums internationally.


Larry Gagosian, the art dealer, invited Basquiat to work in the ground floor studio space of his Venice, California home. There, he created a series of paintings for a March 1983 show, his second at the Gagosian Gallery in West Hollywood. Basquiat flew out his then unknown-singer girlfriend, Madonna, to accompany him to the show.


Basquiat loved Jazz, hip-hop, blues, Latin + African music and has said “my paintings are jazz on canvas.”

Diego Cortez was one of Jean-Michel and Suzanne’s first friends. He was an art curator and dealer who knew everything about the club scene and the art world. It was Diego who arranged Jean’s first show at a space in Long Island City and, it is said that without Diego, Jean-Michel might never have become famous.


Basquiat died in 1988 of a heroin overdose. He was 27 years old.


the wry home

Basquiat was last modified: November 20th, 2020 by Elizabeth Dowling
ArtBasquiatExhibitJean-Michel BasquiatMFAPainter
0 comment
0
Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
previous post
Oh Happy Day!
next post
A Few Target Stocking Stuffers

You may also like

Cali Fun

August 3, 2017

Colorful Graphics

September 3, 2015

Entrepreneur Focus: Ivy Becker

March 24, 2016

Red, White and Blue Giveaway

July 3, 2014

Adorable New Store

June 8, 2017

1948 Bathroom Part Two

December 22, 2016

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Liz Dowling
I have loved design ever since I painted my bedroom walls high-gloss lime green in the fourth grade. A lifelong hobby, mixing low cost items with a few pricier pieces thrown in, has become The Wry Home. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t!

Subscribe to the Blog

Be Social With Us

Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest

The Wry Home on Instagram

  • The New England winter has me dreaming of these views, a year ago...... dreaming of a vaccine too!
  • Had to leave this little one for three days to have my knee replacement surgery, so she stared at me
  • Married 29 years today We celebrated by getting me a new knee As with many other Covid celebrations, we will
  • Happy Holidays from @solvangbakery and my brother and his wife. Love this! #merrychristmas #happyholidays #solvangbakery
  • Our birthday girl still has spring in her step! Happy 14th Birthday Rhino #birthday #girl #dachshundsofinstagram #dachshundlove #dachshund #Rhino
  • Up on the blog, an escape from all of the “uplifting” news right now. An exhibit of Basquiat and his
  • Rainy day fun! #basquiat #basquiatart

Recent Posts

  • Orange + Blue
    February 9, 2021
  • Sneak Peek
    January 24, 2021
  • Rhino Has
    An Adventure
    January 12, 2021
  • Delicious Christmas Cocktails
    Even I Can Make!
    December 23, 2020
  • A Few Target
    Stocking Stuffers
    December 3, 2020
  • Basquiat
    November 19, 2020

Best of Houzz Service 2017 Best of Houzz Service 2016 Recommended on Houzz

 

Amara Interior Blog Awards Nominated Blog 2019     nominated

nominated     Amara Interior Blog Awards Nominated Blog 2016

Smarty Style Bathrooms badge

Read The Wry Home Newsletter

Popular Posts

  • Orange + Blue
  • My Homemade
    Marble Tables
  • Sneak Peek
  • French Country is Out?

Archives

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

© 2017 The Wry Home


Back To Top