Brooklyn-born Haitian – Puerto Rican – American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat went from being a street kid and graffiti artist to a darling of the art world in 1982.
In 2017, the Sotheby’s auction of Basquiat’s Untitled (1982) for $110,500,000 set records for the biggest sale of an American artist and for a Black artist. Untitled (1982) was the first Contemporary work made after 1980 to surpass the $100 million mark.
The work is imposing. At the Sotheby’s auction exhibition, two paintings seemed to be backlit with an internal electric fire. They were Basquiat’s Untitled (1982) and a Picasso self portrait.
One Basquiat
Before going to it’s new home in Japan, Untitled (1982) goes on exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum in Prospect Park, Wednesday – Sunday from January 26 – March 11, 2018.
It’s a homecoming of sorts. Basquiat’s artistic genius was triggered by his mother who used to take her young son to see the art at the Brooklyn Museum.
The moral of the story is FEED YOUR KIDS CULTURE. You never know what you might inspire.