The Brilliance of Jean Michel Basquiat and 200 Never Before Seen Artworks
Who is this kid whose artwork is hitting record sales and being sold for over $110 million dollars at Sothebys? Whose art has become the most expensive western piece of artwork sold in Asia and who left a legacy of over 600 masterpieces at just the ripe age of 27 years old. If you guessed John-Michel Basquiat you got it right!
Courtesy of Sothebys
Art encapsulates everything that is our culture as it is a direct reflection of everything we are as a society. Art depicts the good, the bad, the scandalous, the forbidden, the un-talked, the oppressed, the emotional, the unwanted, the beauty, the history making art a truly human experience.
Courtesy of Jean-Michel-Basquiat.org
This week marks the first anniversary of Juneteenth becoming a federal holiday. A holiday that commemorates and celebrates the day slaves from Galveston, Texas were informed of their freedom in 1865. Today it is a day where we emphasize and commemorate African Americans' freedom and to acknowledge a very truthful and painful period of America's history. A time not just to celebrate real freedom but to sensitize and become present. Becoming a space where experience is shared, acknowledged and celebrated.
Courtesy of Artsy
So back to our starting riddle, who is John-Michel Basquiat? Born in 1960 to a Haitian dad and a Puerto Rican descent mom, Basquiat commenced his years at a multicultural household that would shape the way he looked at art and the way the world looked at his art. He would grow to be one of the few Hispanic-African-American internationally recognized artists.
Just in time, Juneteenth is celebrated as the “King Pleasure” exhibition is being held in New York City. Starting last April at the Starrett-Lehigh building 200 never before seen works are being displayed. A one of a kind space curated by the artist's family with the sole purpose of demonstrating a little sneak peak inside of the young late artist.
Courtesy of Lonely Planet
“We didn’t want it to be a scholarly show. We didn’t want it to be a museum or gallery show. We really wanted it to be an experience,” Jeanine Heriveaux.
Basquiat's legacy explores his experience as a Black artist, decades later his depictions of racism are still very much alive. Juneteenth celebrates freedom and in doing so we also celebrate the imposed barriers that African Americans have had to break in order to someday fully achieve said freedom. Art, as mentioned before, is an essential piece of our humanity. Basquiat's works will long live as long as we continue to commemorate and talk about how oppression subjugates and dominates systematically.
Courtesy of Jean-Michel-Basquiat.org
Irony of Negro Policeman painted in 1981 is one of the artists expression on how oppressive systems suppress marginalized groups. A neo-expressionist art piece that examines a profound question, why or how does an African American works fro a system, police force, that repeatedly work against them? Another work through which Basquiat immortalizes police brutality against African Americans is depicted in The Death of Michael Stewart, a social artifact that protests injustice.
Basquiat's artwork reflects a world that needed change and continues to prove its importance in creating conversations around it.