Jean-Michel Basquiat – XXL Book

Get up close to the bold brushwork and scribbled words of Jean-Michel Basquiat whose vivid paintings remain as fresh and urgent today as in 1980s New York. This XXL-sized monograph gathers Basquiats major works in pristine reproduction alongside texts by editor Hans Werner Holzwarth and curator and art historian Eleanor Nairne. They introduce us to an artist whose legend is as strong as ever. The legend of Jean-Michel Basquiat is as strong as ever. Synonymous with New York in the 1980s the artist first appeared in the late 1970s under the tag SAMO spraying caustic comments and fragmented poems on the walls of the city. He appeared as part of a thriving underground scene of visual arts and graffiti hip hop post-punk and DIY filmmaking which met in a booming art world. As a painter with a strong personal voice Basquiat soon broke into the established milieu exhibiting in galleries around the world. Basquiats expressive style was based on raw figures and integrated words and phrases. His work is inspired by a pantheon of luminaries from jazz boxing and basketball with references to arcane history and the politics of street life?so when asked about his subject matter Basquiat answered royalty heroism and the streets. In 1983 he started coll(more...)