Happy Birthday I jot this down on Basquiat’s birthday, he was born on December 21st in 1960. (Here is the Huffington Post’s Birthday message, with images of his work from the recent retrospective. ) Below are some other ramblings and recent Basquiat links. Art Basel Miami Beach this December was an occasion to see several of his works on display. See three at jmp_photos flickr site. Galerie Gmurzynska gallery showed a key early Basquiat painting discussed in my book, the 1980 Untitled (Car Crash, December 1980), see here. Some later work of his was also seen at the Miami Beach Convention center, alongside famous artists who influence him in different ways (Picasso, Pollock, Warhol), his friend Keith Haring, and more recent contemporary art, such as Nick Cave’s Sound Suits. See some pictures at the IHLET blog. Crass Commercialism at Christmas: Adding to the absurd list of pointless commercialization of his work, an image of his work “King Alphonso” has been stolen (perfectly legally, it was licensed by the estate) and transferred to a coffe cup and plate in Limoges porcelain. €70 with tax. http://www.highsnobette.com/news/tag/jean-michel-basquiat/ These will be competing with the $150.00 “Keep Frozen” Limoges plate at Gagosian’s (http://www.gagosian.com/shop/jean-michel-basquiat-4) At least the coffee mug is marketed as overpriced kitchen wear. Gagosian markets these alongside his art as “limited editions.” I don’t see the difference between these and the
countless sneakers and T-shirts also licensed by the Estate. The latest being
the “somewhat limited” so-called “Basquiat X” Reebok Ventilator (http://www.kicksonfire.com/2011/12/13/jean-michel-basquiat-x-reebok-ventilator/). My view is, if it is fashionable to rip off his art, at
least do it yourself, and under the radar, like this recent “nail art” (http://fuckyeahnailart.tumblr.com/post/14256177577). Of course, all these years after the artist’s death, the destruction of the downtown New York artist’s milieu in which he artistically grew up, and the gross expansion of wealth inequality world wide (and especially in Manhattan) it is becoming harder and harder to see the difference between these objects and the million dollar sales of his actual work.
Jean-Michel Basquiat came in at
number 8 on the list of best-selling artists for 2011, selling 56 lots out of 69 offered (81% sell rate) for a
total of $85,395,581 raised. Basquiat is often sited as a victim of his own success, a profligate spender, etc. but he never saw anything like these prices in his lifetime.
Despite the continued economic problems resulting in unemployment foreclosures, and declining real wages for the 99%, in November 2011 contemporary
art sales rallied in New York, raising $635 million in just three days. The union-busting Sotheby’s
(read more on the boycott and labor actions) was at the front of this pack of
wolves. And in December Basquiat’s painting MP sold in Paris for €1,296,75, helping lift Sotheby’s Contemporary Art sales there
to 20.6 million. Many of the 42 art handlers Sotheby’s kicked out in the streets after
refusing to negotiate demanded cuts to their contract will have five months
without a paycheck this December, making it a very difficult Christmas for
their families. To make matters worse, their health insurance will expire at
the start of the New Year. Occupy 2012 While
not relating to Basquiat at all, but much more in keeping with Basquiat’s
spirit, was Poster-Boy’s “Occupy Diego,” a recent mash-up of an adhesive subway
advertisement for the Museum of Modern Art’s Diego Rivera show, using nothing but a sharp knife to relate the Mexican artist’s social concerns from the 1930s depression to the Occupy
Wall Street movement today.
More on the MOMA Rivera show later. And have a happy New Year. |
