Last evening, the Greenwich Village Society of Historical Preservation, in partnership with Two Boots Pizza, unveiled a commemorative plaque outside 57 Great Jones St. near the Bowery... marking the site of Jean-Michel Basquiat's home and studio from 1983 to the time of his death in 1988...
Shawn Chittle shared these photos from during (and after) the event...
[Phil Hartman of Two Boots with Lannyl Stephens of the GVSHP]
The artist was found dead here of a heroin overdose on Aug. 12, 1988. He was 27.
Off the Grid has more about Basquiat's life and work in the neighborhood here.
Never knew this. Awesome.
ReplyDeleteToday Basquiat would probably be called a crusty. He had issues with drug addiction early on. Heroin is on the rise again and people are dying in the streets. Some things never change.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about "crusty." He came from a good family in Brooklyn, and while his style was certainly very "his own" he was not homeless, was he?
ReplyDeleteHere it looks like his Mom dressed him for school!
http://glennobrien.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/04.jpg
There is a kid somewhere in the EV now who I've seen riding his bike who looks exactly like Basquiat. Similar clothes, face, hair, posture. It has to be deliberate. I was momentarily stunned to see him gliding by and wistfully watched him go all the way down the block.
ReplyDeleteBASQUIAT edited by Marc Mayer. A must have for anyone who loved him and admired his art.
ReplyDeleteSon of Basquiat. Or maybe he is just coming back for a look around.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous at 3:54. What would he think? Driving by on his citibike NOT
ReplyDelete@ 3:42
ReplyDeleteThere was a biopic on Basquiat starring Jeremy Wright and one of the final scenes in the film is when he was riding his bike on the street smoking a joint (I think), it might have been a homage. The movie is kinda lame but it has choice scenes and interesting performances. Like David Bowie as Warhol (when he meets Jean in a cafe) and Courtney Love as Madonna, who he was banging before she became huge.
There was a lot of anger in his paintings. Really reflective of the bad old days. He was kind of like an empath, channelling all the strife of being poor and black in those paintings. And he was quite the poet too. Samo and all those wall spanning quotes preceded Bansky and was probably considered by the city as a scourge as the rest of graffiti but now is considered "street art", which is now being exploited by predatory developers and rapacious slumlords as a cudgel to raise rents and drive out the working poor and middle class. (re: Jerkface, I think that's the hack's name)
30 years after his overdose, This isn't SAMO, it's a whole new level of shit. And the bad days have clearly returned.
What I find even more disturbing is the value of his harrowing brilliant work, selling for more than a quarter BILLION dollars. When it should be at museums full time, not the occasional exhibition.
It's good that he got a plaque though. Way overdue
"Harrowing brilliant work"?
ReplyDeleteWhen's the fatal comet strike supposed to happen? Anyone know?
@ 2:30
ReplyDeleteYes, I think his work is brilliant and harrowing. Eye of the beholder.