Jean-Michel Basquiat: One Master Artist / Two Masterpieces

On view September 12 through November 10, 2019

Jean-Michel Basquiat: One Master Artist / Two Masterpieces focuses on two unique Basquiat artworks: Yellow Door (1985) and Untitled (Word on Wood) (1985). The exhibition will examine the artist’s visual vocabulary in an intimate presentation of these two important paintings. Jean-Michel Basquiat: One Master Artist / Two Masterpieces explores the artist’s use of found materials, text, and portraiture as a means to explore socio-political themes and self-identity. Related materials will further address how Basquiat’s art signified new directions in abstract figuration and 20th-century painting. This show is part of the fall exhibition series Ordinary/Extraordinary: Assemblage in Three Acts.

The exhibition Jean-Michel Basquiat: One Master Artist / Two Masterpieces is part of the exhibition series Ordinary/Extraordinary: Assemblage in Three Acts. The series simultaneously presents three discrete shows focused on works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Purvis Young, and a selection of 20th- and 21st-century Haitian Vodou flags. The use of found objects, such as discarded wood and textiles, formally links the exhibitions together. More importantly, historical and socio-economic narratives informed by the Afro-Caribbean Diaspora, the Black experience in America, as well as European artistic influences, unite the artists featured in the series. Although each is a stand-alone show, viewed together, the series explores provocative portrayals of race, identity, spirituality, survival, and hope in a range of assemblage objects and compositions.