Basquiat x Warhol
"Believe It Or Not, I Can Actually Draw"
- Jean-Michel Basquiat
PhotographY: Mandy K Yu
Refreshing Air and Refreshing Concepts
It's technically spring, but Saturday's gorgeous, sunny weather could've fooled me. What a tease. We started the day off philosophizing – didn't know you could verbalize "philosophy" – and pretending to be art connoisseurs at the AGO for Jean-Michel Basquiat's "Now's The Time" exhibit.
His works were predominantly paintings that were political, lucid, almost child-like, and powerful. From newsprint scrawls to wall-to-wall sized paintings, Basquiat did not hesitate in his brushwork for a moment. They were large in scale and loud in content – unforgiving and shameless – but not in a negative way. It was liberating to see his thoughts being translated with such visual impact.
Basquiat did not hesitate in his brushwork for a moment. His works were political, lucid, almost child-like, and powerful.
Photograph: Walker Art Center
Supernova: Stars, Deaths, and Disasters
Having collaborated with Warhol throughout Basquiat's career, it reminded me that the overall exhibit definitely did not surpass that of Andy Warhol's 2006 exhibit, "Stars, Deaths, and Disasters," which I to this day will always remember vividly. The piece "Blow Job" intrigued me in the visual and conceptual sense, and of course it would – I was 14. To merge pornography and art to me at that time was an uncomfortable notion. Is porn art? Was this film considered a porn or was it art? Is it both? Can it be both?
These thoughts brought up the often asked and unanswerable question:
"What is art?" Classic.