Monday's opening shots

Photos by Lola Sáenz 

The latest in the occasional and ongoing witless pink-out at 57 Great Jones St., including painting over the commemorative plaque for one-time resident Jean-Michel Basquiat...

Friday's opening shot

Seen this morning outside the Brant Foundation on Sixth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue (thanks, Steph, for the pic!)... a step-and-repeat banner apparently leftover from last night's launch celebration... 

Dom Pérignon, which, along with Miller High Life is one of our favorite Champagne maisons, pays tribute to Jean-Michel Basquiat with a special-edition Vintage 2015. (And no, you won't be able to order it down the street at the Cherry Tavern.) 

DP previously collaborated on special-edition bottle designs featuring Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons. 

The Brant Foundation's first show here in the spring of 2019 featured work by Basquiat — some 70 works collectively valued at $1 billion.

Local students help create a tribute to Basquiat at the 12C Outdoor Gallery

Photos by @galinskynow 

The 12C Outdoor Gallery has been coming back to life with the help of some local students.

Earlier this month, several artists, parents, and grammar school students went to work on a new mural on the corner of 12th Street and Avenue C. 

The piece is titled: "With Love from the LES to the Caribbean: In Memory of Jean-Michel Basquiat."

... and the final product...

The mural is a collaboration led by artists Savannah Zambrano and Andrea Amanda with students at P.S. 188 The Island School ... with the support of Loisaida Inc., Galinsky Coaching, Thrive Collective, Curated Concepts LLC, and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

In early March, Brooklyn-based artist Danielle Mastrion finished the first mural outside the renovated building, paying tribute to Puerto Rican freedom fighter and spiritual luminary Pedro Albizu Campos. (Campos Plaza is directly across 12th Street.)

The 12C Outdoor Art Gallery previously featured a rotating batch of murals curated by Robert Galinsky. One constant throughout the years was the Gil Scott-Heron tribute that Chico created after the jazz poet, musician, and author died in 2011. 

Another pink-out at 57 Great Jones St.

Photos by Lola Sáenz 

Once again, someone slapped the exterior of 57 Great Jones St. with pink paint and once again rolled out the commemorative plaque for one-time resident Jean-Michel Basquiat...

This happened late last summer here between the Bowery and Lafayette. (We've been told the person who did this is obsessed with Basquiat, who lived and worked in the building once owned by Andy Warhol from 1983 to his death in 1988.)

Angelina Jolie opened Atelier Jolie here late last year... the space includes a cafe operated by Eat Offbeat featuring food "from around the world made by refugee chefs in NYC." (Try the baklava!)

About the discounted tix to see Basquiat x Warhol at the Brant Foundation

EVG photos from last month

For the remaining month of the Basquiat x Warhol exhibit at the Brant Foundation, tickets are 50% off every Wednesday from 2-6 p.m. 

Some math: for East Village residents on Wednesdays between 2-6 p.m., the cost would be $7.50, $10 if you live outside the neighborhood. Find ticket info here. 

As previously noted about the show at 421 E. Sixth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue... 

On view from Nov. 1, 2023, through Jan. 7, 2024, this is the first time the collaboration has been the subject of a major New York exhibition since Andy Warhol & Jean-Michel Basquiat at Gagosian Gallery in 1997. The exhibition is traveling from Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris and has benefited from the collaboration between the two institutions.

The Brant Foundation's first show here in the spring of 2019 featured work by Basquiat — some 70 works collectively valued at $1 billion. A career-spanning Warhol collection was here back in the spring. 

Tix for Basquiat x Warhol at the Brant Foundation now on sale

Tickets for the latest show at the Brant Foundation, Basquiat x Warhol, are now on sale. 

Here's what to expect from the space at 421 E. Sixth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue... via the EVG inbox... 

The Brant Foundation is pleased to present Basquiat x Warhol at the Foundation's East Village location, curated by Dr. Dieter Buchhart and Peter M. Brant in collaboration with Dr. Anna Karina Hofbauer. On view from Nov. 1, 2023, through Jan. 7, 2024, this is the first time the collaboration has been the subject of a major New York exhibition since Andy Warhol & Jean-Michel Basquiat at Gagosian Gallery in 1997. The exhibition is traveling from Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris and has benefited from the collaboration between the two institutions. 

The Brant Foundation's first show here in the spring of 2019 featured work by Basquiat — some 70 works collectively valued at $1 billion. A career-spanning Warhol collection was here back in the spring. 

Tickets for the new show are $20, and $15 for EV residents. (Kids under 12 are free, etc.) Find ticket info here.

Not so pretty in pink at 57 Great Jones St.

Back on Monday, we noted that someone rolled over the exterior at 57 Great Jones St. between the Bowery and Lafayette with pink paint.

Several media outlets picked up the story (and credited and linked to EVG) ... so thank you...

• Artnet News 

• Curbed 

• Hyperallergic 

• Bollyinside (!!!)

Anyway, the pink painter (whose identity is known) also defaced the memorial plaque for one-time tenant Jean-Michel Basquiat, who lived and worked here from 1983 to the time of his death in 1988. 

The incident motivated EVG regular Lola Sáenz to spend an hour on Friday trying to clean up the plaque and make some progress, though it will need to be professionally buffed out ... (see the top photo)...

As for the address ... earlier this summer, Angelina Jolie announced a new venture, Atelier Jolie — "a creative collective for self-expression" — opening this fall inside the space. 

A tribute to Sinéad O'Connor on Great Jones

Top photo via EVG from July 15 

A few nights ago, someone did a somewhat half-assed job of buffing out the storefront at 57 Great Jones St. between the Bowery and Lafayette. 

So last evening,  artist Adrian Wilson (under his @planndalism account) stopped by to fix the crown that he added earlier this month to the former home-studio of Jean-Michel Basquiat (thanks to EVG reader Uli for the photo below)...

While there, Wilson and Erin Ko added a tribute to Sinéad O'Connor after news of the singer-songwriter's death earlier in the day at age 56.

The wall now includes a quote from a 2014 interview with O'Connor: "If you live with the devil, you find out there’s a God."

As previously reported, Angelina Jolie is creating a collaborative space this fall for designers and artisans in the space here called Atelier Jolie. 

Thanks to Adrian for sharing the photos!

The Great Jones Crown Affair

The former home-studio of Jean-Michel Basquiat has (unofficially) been crowned on Great Jones between the Bowery and Lafayette. 

After news broke this past week that Angelina Jolie was opening a space from designers and other creators at 57 Great Jones St., artist Adrian Wilson (under his @planndalism account and with an assist from The Lisa Project NYC) paid tribute... adding an unsanctioned giant crown — an iconic symbol seen in Basquiat's work — to the two-level building's exterior...

There was another addition...

Wilson also cleaned the 7-year-old memorial plaque for Basquiat on the building. 

Jolie has reportedly said that she will leave the building's exterior as is when she moves her new enterprise into the space. 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• Angelina Jolie is creating a collaborative space for designers and artisans in Basquiat's former studio on Great Jones Street

Basquiat's former loft space on Great Jones is available for lease

The building at 57 Great Jones St. between the Bowery and Lafayette is now on the rental market...

The two-level building was once owned by Andy Warhol ... and Jean-Michel Basquiat was living and working in the second-floor studio at the time of his death in 1988.

Here are some particulars via the listing at Meridan Capital Group: 

• Historic full-building restaurant opportunity

• Previously owned by Andy Warhol and art studio/home of Jean-Michel Basquiat 

• Fully equipped restaurant space with venting & gas in place 

• Massive skylight in ground floor dining room 

• The lower level consists of 2 walk-in boxes, dry storage and office space 

• The second floor consists of open loft space with high ceilings and multiple skylights 

• All uses considered 

The back of the ground-floor space had been home to Bohemian, an invite-only Japanese restaurant that provided some intrigue for food writers 10-plus years back. (As we understand, Bohemian's parent company, Play Earth Inc., owns the building.) 

In July 2016, Village Preservation, in partnership with Two Boots Pizza, unveiled a commemorative plaque to mark Basquiat's time here from 1983-1988.

The building's façade served as an ad-hoc memorial to Basquiat through the years. As we first reported back in February, workers painted over all the tributes... though, as the top photo on this post shows, the tags are making a comeback. 

You can read this post at Village Preservation for more history of the building, which once served as the HQ for Five Points Gang ringleader Paul Kelly.

Previously on EV Grieve:

• Tribute-filled façade of former Basquiat studio painted over on Great Jones

Sunday's opening shot

Have a yabba dabba doo time with this new stone-age Basquiat wheatpaste on the Bowery and Houston... courtesy of DeGrupo ...

Wednesday's parting shot of a Basquiat painting that just sold for $93.1 million

Jean-Michel Basquiat's painting titled In This Case sold for $93.1 million last night at Christie's. 

The record price paid for a Basquiat at auction came in 2017 when another painting of a skull sold to the Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa for $110.5 million. 

As for last night, Bloomberg provides the play-by-play...

As the lot opened up to a salesroom populated exclusively by cameras and auction house specialists, Gemma Sudlow, a senior vice president at Christie's who was leading the auction, opened bidding at $40 million, and quickly brought its price to $52 million.

And...

Soon, six bidders began to vie for the work, slowly pushing its price in increments ranging from $1 million to $3 million. After about six minutes of bidding, the nearly 6.5 foot-high (2 meters) painting hammered at $81 million. Auction house fees payable by the buyer added on another $12 million.

And...

The painting was last purchased publicly in 2002, when it sold at Sotheby’s for just under $1 million. It then sold privately in 2007 for an undisclosed sum. The seller on Tuesday night, according to reports, was former Valentino chairman Giancarlo Giammetti; the buyer was not immediately known.

Basquiat died of a heroin overdose in 1988 at his home-studio at 57 Great Jones St. between the Bowery and Lafayette. He was 27.

Image via Christie's

Spray on: A new tribute to Basquiat on Great Jones

There's new art adorning the second floor of 57 Great Jones St. between the Bowery and Lafayette... artist-photographer Adrian Wilson (under his @plannedalism moniker) painted "Let Us Spray" here where Jean-Michel Basquiat lived and worked at the time of his death in 1988.

The building, once owned by Andy Warhol, now houses Bohemian, an upscale Japanese restaurant ... their curbside dining space includes a message by Al Diaz,  who, as a teen in the late 1970s, collaborated with Basquiat on a series of cryptic messages seen around the city signed from SAMO©. 

This isn't Wilson's first dalliance with the space. In the fall of 2018, he helped curate the Same Old Gallery, an exhibit that featured Diaz's work. The two also collaborated on a mural here to mark the 30th anniversary of Basquiat's death in August 2018.

In July 2016, the Greenwich Village Society of Historical Preservation (now Village Preservation) unveiled a commemorative plaque outside the building ...

Flashback Friday: Take a virtual tour of the Brant Foundation's Basquiat exhibit from 2019

[Photo by James Maher]

In case you missed the Brant Foundations's Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibit last year... the currently-closed space on Sixth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue is now offering a 360 VR tour of the show as seen in the four-level space owned by Peter M. Brant.

The exhibit, open to the public for two-plus months, featured some 70 works collectively valued at $1 billion. You can start exploring at this link.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• A Basquiat-at-the-Brant Foundation reader

Peter Brant and the legacy of Basquiat

[EVG photo from March]

Tomorrow (May 13) is the last day for the Basquiat exhibit at the Brant Foundation on Sixth Street.

On this occasion, J. Faith Almiron contributes an essay — titled "No One Owns Basquiat, Not Even Peter Brant" — to Hyperallergic that explores how Brant "has cogently influenced the legacy of Basquiat on several fronts."

And there are thoughts on the exhibit, which features some 70 works collectively valued at $1 billion:

Without guiding text or a road map, laypeople may feel disoriented or find the space aloof. On the top floor, there is a skylight that brings in natural luminosity against the artwork. If you follow it, the rooftop offers a panoramic view of the city.

Although it belies any pedagogical purpose characteristic of civic institutes like public museums, the bare presentation does not detract from the ethos and impact of the artwork. For example, the second-floor stuns with a wall of paintings framed on signature canvas stretchers innovated by former assistant Stephen Torton, from floor to high-vaulted ceilings.

And...

Beyond the high volume and overwhelming demand, Basquiat exhibitions diversify the demography of its attendees. Unlike any other artist before or since, Basquiat invites everybody into the museum — art nerds, hip-hop heads, immigrant kids, post-colonial ex-pats, rebels young and old, everyday Black and Brown folk, thirsty celebrities, and indeed rich white people too. Basquiat hails you to revel in his glorious defiance, then take a piss on the walls of an oppressor.

Previously on EV Grieve:
1 month in: Basquiat at the Brant Foundation

Report: Brant Foundation releasing more tickets for Basquiat exhibit

The Brant Foundation is releasing a new block of tickets for people to check out the Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibition at the Brant Foundation's Sixth Street home.

As artnet News reports, the foundation is expanding its daily capacity from 1,100 to 2,000 guests to accommodate more visitors.

All 50,000 of the free tickets were apparently reserved even before the exhibition officially opened on March 6.

"The demand for tickets was not a huge surprise," Allison Brant told artnet News in an email. "We knew how beloved Jean-Michel Basquiat is and that people would not want to miss an opportunity to see this many works together again, especially in the East Village."

The exhibition, featuring some 70 works collectively valued at $1 billion, is up through May 15 at the Brant Foundation, 421 E. Sixth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. Hit this link to reserve tickets.


[Photo by riachung00]

Previously on EV Grieve:
1 month in: Basquiat at the Brant Foundation

1 month in: Basquiat at the Brant Foundation

[Photo by James Maher]

The Basquiat exhibit officially opened to the ticket-holding public back on March 6 at the Brant Foundation, 421 E. Sixth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue.

The exhibit, featuring some 70 works collectively valued at $1 billion, is up through May 15. There is a waitlist (link here) for admittance.

Multiple EVG contributors/readers have shared photos from inside the four-level space owned by Peter M. Brant this past month. Overall the comments about the exhibit, the inaugural one inside this renovated building, have been overwhelmingly positive. People have appreciated how uncrowded the floors feel ... as well as the East Village views the space provides.

The following shots are by old EVG friend James Maher...





























... and Carol from East Fifth Street shared these... (she called the exhibit "extraordinary — I was truly overwhelmed.")













Previously on EV Grieve:
A Basquiat-at-the-Brant Foundation reader