A rresting, monumental, and tremendously emblematic, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s towering masterwork Untitled typifies the graphic ferocity, referential intricacy, and explosive painterly fervor that characterizes the artist’s truly singular oeuvre. Painted at the absolute zenith of his success and international visibility, Untitled powerfully embodies the apogee of Basquiat’s creative output. Exemplifying his ability to draw upon disparate cultural narratives within his own searing visual vernacular, Basquiat’s iconic pantheon of heroic figures are potently present within the present work, testifying to his unique positioning at the nexus of tradition and the contemporary art world. Executed in the early months of 1985, Untitled is notably and inexorably tied to Basquiat’s famous February 1985 New York Times Magazine cover, in which he sits positioned directly in front of the work. Wearing a sharp suit and wielding a paintbrush, sitting barefoot before the present work with legs akimbo, the photograph has become one of the most famous images of the young artist, and is reproduced in virtually every major monograph and exhibition catalogue to cover his work. That Basquiat chose to feature the present work in that image – which would appear on the cover of such a prominent and widely disseminated publication – underscores the poignancy and vital symbolism present in the work and positions it as an encapsulation of all Basquiat represented artistically and culturally at the peak of his practice in the 1980’s.

The significance of the present work’s inclusion in The New York Times Magazine cover cannot be overstated. This cover story, entitled “New Art New Money: the Marketing of an American Artist,” represented not only Basquiat’s pre-eminence amongst his artistic peers, but also his widespread visibility and relevance in more mainstream spheres.

The radiant child, an artistic prodigy seemingly born of the street, now graced the cover of a household magazine, a publication that embodied what is most relevant in hegemonic culture. This cover encapsulates the double-consciousness Basquiat was always navigating: that of a young black man in a predominantly white space; a bohemian spirit who amassed tremendous wealth, fame and market legitimacy; a former street artist whose work was featured on the walls of the most prestigious institutions worldwide. In this way, Untitled serves not only as a totemic signifier for this pivotal moment in Basquiat’s life, but also of these dichotomies, which lie at the very heart of his oeuvre and practice.

Against an elegant slate-gray backdrop of three wooden panels, a flurry of brilliant hues and gestural brushwork speak to the virtuosic ability to apply, execute, shift, and render paint that distinguished Basquiat as an undisputed master within the vanguard of young and ambitious image-makers working in the 1980s. Exemplifying his singular command as a master colorist, Basquiat layers dazzling orange, scarlet, and bright teal hues to spectacular effect, most notably in the center panel of the present work. Describing Basquiat’s innate natural ability, Marc Mayer notes, "With direct and theatrically ham-fisted brushwork, he used unmixed color structurally, like a seasoned abstractionist, but in the service of a figurative and narrative agenda. Basquiat deployed his color architecturally, at times like so much tinted mortar to bind a composition, at other times like opaque plaster to embody it. Color holds his pictures together, and through it they command a room." (Marc Mayer, "Basquiat in History," in Exh. Cat., New York, Brooklyn Museum, Basquiat, 2005, p. 46) Intermingling oil-stick with paintbrush, fine lines with gestural smears, Basquiat builds his figures up before him, sealing the immediacy of his composition with specific touches of a bright, searing white. While the furious speed of Basquiat’s paint application conjures a vision of chaotic yet remarkably controlled movement, the conceptual intricacy of Untitled suggests the painting’s careful and deliberate creation.

Rendered as a triptych across three wooden panels, Untitled depicts a triad of distinct characters all executed in Basquiat’s signature kinesthetic, crackling style. Depicted at far right, a dark figure familiar from other of Basquiat’ best known paintings powerfully evokes traditional African masks, his wide mouth concurrently recalling a winning grin and fearsome, bared teeth. While the dark silhouette offers few identifying features, the figure’s internal organs are brightly illuminated, recalling the anatomical preoccupation of artists like Leonardo da Vinci. Through this radical approach to figuration, Basquiat breaks down the dichotomy between the external and internal, revealing the cacophonous innermost aspects of psychic life with breathtaking vitality. The depiction of mask-like figures in his work also represents Basquiat’s relentless exploration of cultural identity; born to a Haitian father and Puerto-Rican mother, Basquiat often expressed his feelings of racialized otherness in a white-dominated art world in this manner.

Likewise, Basquiat’s references to African masks invokes his lifelong reverence for Pablo Picasso, whose incorporation of African mask imagery features prominently within his oeuvre, particularly in such seminal works as Les Demoiselles d’Avignon from 1907. To the left of the dark figure, a hatted figure on horseback conjures the silhouette of Don Quixote, the fabled knight-errant and protagonist of Miguel de Cervantes famed novel of the 17^th century – a story that Basquiat’s mother often shared the young Basquiat when he was a child. Both humorous and tragic, the story of Don Quixote and his sidekick Sancho Panza carries the polarizing complexities that also characterize so much of Basquiat’s work and personal narrative. A tale of unbridled pursuit of individualism and the prioritization of the tenets of selfhood above the rules and norms of society, the story of Don Quixote encompasses themes that can be seen as closely paralleling many of the most indelible threads of Basquiat’s life. Notably, the figure of Quixote was also famously depicted by Picasso, and Basquiat’s reference to Quixote pays homage once again to one of his greatest heroes and further testifies to his extraordinary fluency across a multiplicity of cultural traditions and narratives. Indeed, it was growing up in New York City visiting art museums with his mother as a child that Basquiat educated himself on the art historical canon and developed his tremendous appreciation for the work of Picasso. It is arguably Picasso’s full embrace of the avant-garde attitude, one that persistently challenged conventional standards of beauty, which influenced Basquiat to follow a similar path, resulting in striking, bold and aggressive works such as Untitled. Finally, stretching across all three panels is the painting’s third and final figure, a ferocious Jaguar, which bares its teeth in savage intensity and majestic exuberance. The Jaguar was a ubiquitous symbol of strength and excellence in battle for the Aztecs whose military elite were referred to as Jaguar Warriors or Jaguar Knights. This creature is unabashedly powerful, aggressive and postured for attack. Certainly the most overtly offensive of the three figures, the Jaguar brings a deeply palpable raw power to the work.

In these three, searing figures, Untitled both unites and juxtaposes cultures in Basquiat’s signature hybridized lexicon. Rendered in this iconic triptych format, Untitled sets the iconic black warrior, which draws on the visual vocabulary of African masks, and the Jaguar, an important Aztec warrior symbol, with a figure resembling Don Quixote, Cervantes’ farcical knight errant. In doing so, Basquiat contrasts the raw ferocity of African and Mesoamerican visual cultures with the pomposity of European chivalry and tradition. Immortalized for eternity in the iconic New York Times photograph, Untitled is an indisputable and unforgettable masterwork that embodies not only this seminal moment in Basquiat’s career, but his larger project. Indeed, in positioning himself in front of these figures on the cover of The New York Times magazine at the apex of his fame, Basquiat positions himself as the fourth figure within this mythic drama: a warrior-hero of synthesis who draws from multicultural influences, his own heritage, imagination and the brash energy of the street.

巴 斯基亞的大型鉅作《無題》氣勢逼人，充滿象徵意味，作品集其頂尖造詣於一身，將暴烈的圖像美學、內涵豐富的紛繁細節以及情感熾熱的筆觸融為一體。本作成畫之時正值巴斯基亞事業的巔峰，他享譽國際，意氣風發，創造力一如本作呈現的那般旺盛。來自五湖四海的經典英雄形象在他筆下雄姿英發，可見他擅長以極具衝擊力的視覺語彙，把迥然不同的文化冶煉一爐，成為傳統與當代藝術世界之間獨樹一幟的橋樑。《無題》作於1985年初，並登上當年《紐約時報》雜誌二月號封面，為人所津津樂道，封面照片中的巴斯基亞身後正是本次上拍的作品。他穿著一身醒目的西裝，拳握一柄畫筆，赤腳坐在椅子上，單腿抬高踏著身前的椅背。這是巴斯基亞其中一張最為人熟悉的照片，任何一篇提到《無題》的專著或展覽圖錄，必附上這幅照片。巴斯基亞決定與本作合影，而這張照片最終榮登國際知名刊物《紐約時報》。巴斯基亞的舉動指明本作中的圖像符號的重要意味，使它成為巴斯基亞在1980年代創作生涯登峰造極之際的集大成之作。

本作榮登《紐約時報》雜誌封面，重要性不言而喻。那一期的封面故事以巴斯基亞為主角，文章題為〈新藝術・新財富：一個美國藝術家的市場策略〉，如此隆重其事，不但印證巴斯基亞在藝術界聲名顯赫，亦可見他在主流輿論中廣為人識並深受喜愛。這位被譽為「光之子」和藝術奇才的人中龍鳳出身街頭，現在竟然一舉躋身權威文化公眾讀物的封面。這張照片可謂巴斯基亞心中彼此交鋒的雙重意識（Double Consciousness）的縮影：他是年輕的黑人，卻身處白人主宰的世界；他擁有自由不羈的波西米亞靈魂，卻積聚了可觀的財富和名氣，並躍升為市場寵兒；他在街頭塗鴉，作品卻在後來進駐全球各大藝術機構。由此可見，《無題》不但在巴斯基亞人生得意時，成為具有圖騰意義的存在，而且是其身份意識中各種二元對立的寫照，而這些互相矛盾正是其藝術創作的核心。

本作是三塊木板組成的三聯屏作品，背景塗成柔和的淺灰色；令人眼花繚亂的明艷色彩和奔放筆觸席捲畫面，宣告著巴斯基亞高超的用色技巧和純熟的顏料掌控，在1980年代充滿雄心壯志的年輕前衛藝術家當中仍能自成一家。他把奪目的鮮橙、血紅和水藍色層層堆疊，在中間的畫板上營造出尤其斑斕的色陣，彰顯他作為色彩大師的上乘功力。馬克・邁耶（Marc Mayer）曾經如此形容巴斯基亞的天賦之才：「稚拙的筆觸率性直白，流露戲劇張力，他將未經混合的顏色層層堆疊，活像經驗老到的抽象藝術家，但卻是為了達到具象的敘事效果。巴斯基亞從建築的角度調配顏色，使它們有時像用來凝聚構圖的彩色黏合物，有時則像把顏色具體化的石膏漿。色彩使他的畫渾然一體，光芒四射」（馬克・邁耶，〈巴斯基亞的歷史地位〉，展覽圖錄，紐約布魯克林博物館，「巴斯基亞展」，2005年，頁46）。巴斯基亞交替使用油彩棒和畫筆，細線和粗獷的塗抹痕跡互相交纏，令畫中人物逐漸成形，烙印眼底的白色顏料勾勒出輪廓，為一揮而就的色塊定下邊界。巴斯基亞以狂野的速度作畫，結果看似混亂失序，但內裡卻蘊藏一股驚人的克制。《無題》所包含的概念之複雜，顯示其創作過程其實經過深思熟慮。

畫中的角色本來互不相關，卻因為巴斯基亞充滿爆發動感的風格而聚首一堂。畫面最右側有一個皮膚黝黑的人，常見於巴斯基亞最廣為人知的作品，讓人聯想起非洲部落的面具，裂開的大嘴彷彿露出凱旋的笑容，外露的牙齒令人心生駭懼。儘管深色的輪廓並無包含多少表明人物身份的生理特徵，但體內的器官卻被醒目的線條描畫出來，喚起觀者對達文西人體解剖素描的想像。巴斯基亞通過這種露骨的具象刻畫，打破人體內外的絕對隔閡，以震懾人心的生命力，揭露心底粗厲、刺耳的不協和音。作品中面具般的形象亦代表了巴斯基亞對探尋文化身份的執著。他的父親是海地人，母親是波多黎各人，他身處白人主導的藝壇，以面具形象表達內心由種族意識孕育而成的外來者情緒。他對非洲面具形象的運用同時體現出他對畢加索的尊敬之情。畢加索也曾在畫中融入非洲面具的意象，著名例子當數1907年的名作《亞維農少女》。黑色人物左方有一個頭戴高帽、騎在馬背上的男子，使人想起十七世紀的經典小說主角——塞萬提斯筆下浪游四方的騎士唐吉訶德。唐吉訶德曾是畢加索取材的對象，巴斯基亞以此為題，進一步證明他對不同文化傳統和民俗傳說信手拈來。紐約是巴斯基亞成長的地方，他自小與母親參觀城裡眾多美術館，藉此了解主流藝術史，並在過程中對畢加索產生由衷的敬愛。甚至可以說，正是畢加索對前衛藝術的投入、對美的既有標準的不懈挑戰，驅使巴斯基亞走上相似的道路，創作出一如《無題》這般破格出眾、威風凜然的作品。唐吉訶德及其隨從桑丘的故事處處閃爍幽默光芒，卻又瀰漫悲劇色彩，這種複雜的兩極性也體現在巴斯基亞的創作和個人經歷中。唐吉訶德一往無前地追求自我，在他心目中，個人主義比任何社會規條都來得更加重要，而巴斯基亞的生命裡同樣有著這種不可磨滅的特質。本作中的第三個生物是一頭橫跨三塊畫板的美洲豹，牠齜牙咧嘴，一副凶狠模樣，粗獷的圖畫風格賦予牠一種殘暴而威嚴的氣息。在阿茲特克的傳說中，美洲豹是驍勇善戰的化身，阿茲特克人的軍隊菁英多被譽為美洲豹戰士或美洲豹騎士。這種美麗的生物象徵力量和野心，蓄勢待發。牠作為畫中三個形象裡最具攻擊性的一員，張揚地為作品渲染上一股野蠻原始的力量。

畫中的三個形象皆令人印象深刻，巴斯基亞極具標誌性的混合文化元素在此聚集、並置。《無題》以三聯屏的形式，把靈感源自非洲面具美學符號的黑人戰士、阿茲特克重要的勇士化身美洲豹、和酷似遊俠唐吉訶德的人物三位一體結合起來；巴斯基亞藉此把非洲及中美洲荒蠻的文化意象與歐洲騎士傳統的浮誇荒誕和自負互為對照。《無題》因登上《紐約時報》雜誌封面而名留青史，它無疑是一件令人過目不忘的傑作，除了記錄巴斯基亞藝術生涯的輝煌時刻，也是其大型創作的佼佼者。他在名氣盛極一時之際坐在本作前留影，就如同將自己變成畫中神秘三傑以外的第四人：受到各路文化影響，並結合自身血統、想像力和街頭野蠻力量的英雄合體。