Jean-Michel Basquiat

Mary Boone Gallery, New York
Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich
Akira Ikeda Gallery, Tokyo
Private Collection, Japan

Tokyo, PS Gallery, Jean-Michel Basquiat, October - December 1987, no. 3

Richard Marshall and Jean-Louis Prat, Jean-Michel Basquiat, 3rd ed., Vol. II, Paris, 1996, no. 2, p. 172-173, illustrated in color

This work is in very good condition. There is very minor wear in places along the top section of the extreme right outer edge. There is further very minor wear in places along the top section of the upper left outer edge with some associated media loss, only visible upon close inspection. Some of the extreme corners of the Xerox collages are very slightly lifting. No restoration is apparent under ultraviolet light.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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Basquiat's brutally honest and spectacularly immediate style hit the 1980's minimally oriented art world like a supernova. His freshly urban and totally unique brand of intellectualized 'primitivism' was informed by a full spectrum of art historical and cultural sources: Jackson Pollock, graffiti art (both modern and ancient), Pablo Picasso, Jean Dubuffet, the religious and cultural influences from his Haitian/Puerto Rican family and the gritty urban environment of Brooklyn and lower Manhattan. This incredible talent for cultural absorption, combined with exceptional charisma and irrepressible charm, was a perfect storm that swept art away from its bookish past into the rough and tumble present. 

By 1983, the year Hoax was painted, Basquiat could consider himself a member of the highest echelon of the extravagant contemporary art scene.  The young artist had already shown with Tony Shafrazi and Larry Gagosian, would be included in the next Whitney Biennial, was intimate with Madonna and collaborating with Andy Warhol.  His primary European dealer, Bruno Bischofberger, was marketing him to audiences in Milan, Madrid, Zurich and Tokyo and his life gradually became a non-stop flight from one decadent experience to another.  At this time, many art-world observers wondered if Basquiat's meteoric rise and almost overnight fame had begun to consume his artistic innocence.

His stardom bred droves of fair-weather friends, trendy collectors and society wannabees whom prostrated themselves to his face, while abusing his generosity, taking advantage while he was vulnerable and stealing from him behind his back. Basquiat himself could appear unconcerned, but in fact was keenly aware of the parasitic nature of the sycophants and hangers-on around him. However, though he could be cruel and short-tempered with those who were close, he primarily internalized his emotional anguish, consistently seeking self-destructive escapes. As the pressures of being an art-world prodigy began taking its toll, Basquiat began paintings which focused on his personal success and excess, stardom, money and societal hypocrisy. These more mature works often layered the artist's feral energy with acidic wit and personal torment, forming some of the most powerful images in his oeuvre.

The present work, Hoax, is a particularly strong example of works from this period.  Compositionally, the sky blue background is broken by two large fire-engine red swathes and a layering of facsimiles primarily in black and white.  The bars of the stretcher are exposed at the corners, a technique that Basquiat frequently utilized to stress the rawness of the medium, and perhaps the artist as well.  At the bottom right, a leg and foot is painted above the words The Carrdiff Giant Hoax.  This refers to the 19^th century hoax, often considered one of the greatest, during which a New York tobacconist named George Hull paid to have a large human form carved out of gypsum; the 'giant' was buried, then 'rediscovered' and sent on tour as proof of the biblical passage in Genesis: "There were Giants on the earth in those days." The facsimiles illustrate images of American coins which include the motto "In God We Trust," stylized birds with the text "Bird of God," and an image of a man with a hat centered between the words "Pure All Beef Famous." 

To whom or to what does Basquiat refer to in Hoax is impossible to answer. However, we can surmise that this work may be a personal examination of his own insecurities and faith, a repartée against those critics who would dismiss his talents, a critique of the supposedly free society in which the artist lived or perhaps all of these. Basquiat had an incomparable ability to expose society for what it was in very few words, and to present it in an incredibly personal, self-reflective and inwardly vulnerable manner.  As Tony Shafrazi has noted, "Basquiat's use of text is too deeply hermetic and coded to be directed to a particular class in a glib or knowing fashion.  Since his scrawls are often autobiographical in nature, and chronicle a tumultuous personal life and journey, they are possessed of a more unconscious desire to confess or report... Basquiat's early graffiti grew out of an instinct of primal expression that was more in line with the historical origins of the art." (Tony Shafrazi, Jean Michel-Basquiat, New York, 1999, p. 13)

A lack of liquid bitters the masses.
A voice in the herd speaks for the lot.
"Why did you bring us out of Egypt to this dust bowl?
With no grains no figs
no grapevines
no pomegranates
no water for my livestock and I."
Jean Michel-Basquiat