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All auctions / Arts & Graphics / Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) - Hollywood Africans...
Giclée print of Jean-Michel Basquiat (*) Reproduction of the work “Hollywood Africans” created by Basquiat in 1983. Luxury edition on Monte Carlo high‑weight watercolor paper (300 g/m2). Print authorized by Artestar New York. Copyright of the Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Includes Certificate of Authenticity (COA). Specifications: - Support dimensions: 40 x 40 cm - Stain dimensions: 30 x 30 cm - Condition: Excellent (this work has never been framed or exhibited, and has always been kept in a professional art folder, therefore offered in perfect condition). The work will be carefully handled and packed in reinforced cardboard packaging. The shipment will be sent with tracking, operated by leading 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, due to this, he had to change schools many times. He studied at a private Catholic school, then at a public school and finally, at 16, he enrolled in City-As-School, a school for gifted teenagers from which he was expelled by rebellion a year before graduation. Already in his youth he came into contact with the big‑city subculture, linked to drug use and street gangs. In 1977, together with Al Díaz, he entered the world of graffiti, painting on subway cars and in SoHo, the New York neighborhood where art galleries proliferate. A year later he left school a year before graduating from high school and left his 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 he designed himself. He continued to dedicate himself to graffiti; his paintings and writings had a lot of poetic and philosophical charge, but above all satirical. The pseudonym of his alter ego shared with Al Díaz was SAMO (short for “Same Old Shit,” meaning “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 carried inscriptions like “SAMO saves idiots” or “SAMO ends religious brainwashing, the politics of nothingness, 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. In his personal life, he was involved with several women; one of the best known today was Madonna. Lower Manhattan was the area where they lived at that time, and in 1982 they began spending more time together and going to parties in galleries. A common theme, she mentions in an interview: “He 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 retreated to his house in Hawaii. He returned to New York in June, announcing that he had freed himself from his addictions, but on August 12, 1988, at the age of 27, he died of a heroin overdose, becoming the most successful visual artist in the history of Afro‑descendant 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 claim were, for Basquiat, priority factors, as they had previously been for Andy Warhol or Julian Schnabel. Neo‑expressionism came to dominate over appropriationism, partly thanks to the economic strength that raised art prices, and especially painting prices, to high levels, and partly thanks to the support of gallery owners and collectors. Criticism, however, was not unanimous in its evaluation, and it was common to denounce the lack of theoretical foundation in neo‑expressionist discourse. It was asserted that the art practiced by neo‑expressionists lacked any political or social meaning, was merely merchandise and, therefore, subject to the ups and downs of the market. Neo‑expressionist painting was reduced to a consumer product and, as such, to a creatively disqualified and vulgar act.
Estimate:£128.94
To the auctionView all items fromCatawikiorArts & Graphics
Estimate:
£128.94
JULIAN SCHNABEL. ”Mys Sosunova to Mys Peschanyy (Soviet Union Tatar Strait)”.
12/28/2025
£1,041.1
Est: £1,211.89
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