{"id":1185,"date":"2026-01-21T15:57:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T15:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.enriconavarra.com\/wp\/?p=1185"},"modified":"2026-10-09T16:10:03","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T16:10:03","slug":"jean-michel-basquiat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.enriconavarra.com\/wp\/en\/jean-michel-basquiat\/","title":{"rendered":"BASQUIAT Jean-Michel"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Jean-Michel Basquiat<\/strong> was born on December 22, 1960, in Brooklyn. His father was Haitian and his mother of Puerto Rican descent. As a child he already drew constantly and visited New York\u2019s museums with his mother. Then, when he was seven, she gave him a copy of Gray\u2019s Anatomy<\/em>. The book would thus shape his lasting vocabulary of bodies, bones and organs.<\/p>\n

In the late 1970s, he and his friend Al Diaz covered the walls of Lower Manhattan with enigmatic aphorisms. They signed them SAMO\u00a9<\/strong>. These poetic, caustic phrases soon intrigued the art world. A key figure of the downtown underground, he founded the band Gray and frequented the Mudd Club. He also appeared on Glenn O\u2019Brien\u2019s TV Party<\/em>. In addition, he sold hand-painted postcards and clothing, before devoting himself entirely to painting.<\/p>\n

A Meteoric Rise<\/h3>\n

In 1981, the exhibition New York\/New Wave<\/em> at P.S.1 brought him to public attention. His rise was then meteoric: Annina Nosei in New York, Larry Gagosian in Los Angeles, Bruno Bischofberger in Zurich. In 1982, he became the youngest artist invited to documenta 7<\/strong> in Kassel.<\/p>\n

A Painting of Signs<\/h3>\n

His paintings combine words, signs, crowns, skeletal figures and masks. They summon African American history, jazz, boxing, antiquity, anatomy and popular culture. Basquiat<\/a> crossed out, repeated and compiled lists. The canvas thus became a space of thought, where racism, power, money and death can be read. In 1984 and 1985, he painted four-handed works with Andy Warhol<\/strong>. They were shown at Tony Shafrazi Gallery in 1985.<\/p>\n

His technique was as free as his iconography. He painted in acrylic and oilstick on canvas, but also on doors, fences and stretchers with exposed crossbars. He also incorporated collage and photocopies of his own drawings. Music played an essential role, from the bebop of Charlie Parker to that of Dizzy Gillespie. Black boxers, musicians and athletes, from Joe Louis to Sugar Ray Robinson, became the crowned heroes of his pantheon.<\/p>\n

A Considerable Legacy<\/h3>\n

He died in New York on August 12, 1988, at the age of 27. Yet he left a considerable body of paintings and drawings, produced in less than ten years. Major retrospectives followed: the Whitney Museum in 1992, the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in 2010, the Fondation Louis Vuitton in 2018. In 2017, Untitled<\/em> (1982) became one of the most expensive works ever sold at auction.<\/p>\n

Basquiat and Galerie Enrico Navarra<\/h3>\n

Basquiat\u2019s name is closely tied to the history of Galerie Enrico Navarra. The gallery published his catalogue raisonn\u00e9<\/strong> in 1996, reissued in an expanded edition in 2000. Monographs on his drawings (1999) and paintings (2010) later followed, then The Art of Jean-Michel Basquiat<\/em> (2017). In 2006, the gallery organized Jean-Michel Basquiat in Shanghai<\/em>. In 2022, Galerie Gradiva hosted R\u00e9sonance, Jean-Michel Basquiat and the Kongo Universe<\/em><\/a>. His drawings were set in dialogue with powerful figures from the Congo Basin. In 2025, Untitled<\/em><\/a> was presented at The Intermission gallery.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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EXPOSITIONS<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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