Throwback Thursday #5: Basquiat x Warhol Exhibition

" Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol: ’80s cool kid and the king of Pop art. It was an unlikely pairing, but one that won the hearts of art lovers everywhere." - Harriet Shepard, SLEEK Magazine

For this Throwback Thursday, I want to do something different. Normally, i usually write about past trends of fashion and shed on little bit about music; however, I want to talk about two artists that i look up to. Yes, i'm talking about the legendary artists Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Both of these artists had compelling career in the art industry. Warhol captures the essence of pop-culture and not relying mundane/standard art that was popular at the time. For Basquiat, his abstract art conveys the message of the black experience. In comparison of what kind of art Basquiat was portraying to his audience, many people did not understood or took the time see a lot of his artwork except for Warhol.

When these two geniuses got together, history has been made in the art world. By coming from different social/ethnic backgrounds, art was something that they can relate to. Through the combination of their work, they were able to create a dichotomy of their significant art. An article written by Megan Perry, The Good and Bad Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat Collaboration, stated how:

"During the Warhol-Basquiat collaborations, Warhol would usually be the one to (unsurprisingly) begin the painting. He’d often silkscreen a recognizable logo or product – something so typically him – onto a canvas, which Basquiat would promptly write or paint over, leaving his own mark on the work. On Tuesday, April 17, Warhol mentioned in his diary “[Jean Michael] came up and painted over a painting that I did, and I don’t know if it got better or not”."

it still amazes me how these two creatives met each other. According to sleek Magazine, both Basquiat and Warhol met at a restaurant, while Basquiat was showing him pieces of his art work.

"Legend has it that Basquiat first stumbled upon Warhol dining at a restaurant with curator Henry Geldzahler, and sold Warhol a couple of his postcards. It’s the moment recreated in the Julian Schnabel-directed biopic, with Andy Warhol played by David Bowie. Plenty of friends attest to the truth of this story, but gallerist Bruno Bischofberger claims that he was responsible for the pair’s proper introduction. “I took him for lunch to be photographed for a portrait,” he told Tamra Davis. “Jean-Michel did not want to stay for lunch… about an hour and something later, he arrived with this huge painting.” The polaroid of Andy and Jean-Michel turned into “Dos Cabezas” – a masterpiece. “Andy said to me, ‘Oh, I’m so jealous!’, and I said, ‘Why?’. He said, ‘He’s faster than me!'”

In the 80s, Andy Warhol was a well-known artist, who was struggling trying to stay relevant in the art scene. Basquiat, in the other hand, was a young emerging artist wanting to get a glmpse of what the art world was like and making a name for himself in the industry. Once he met Warhol, not only that he gained knowledge of what the art scene was like, Warhol was serving as mentor during their collaborative relationship.

As their friendship became more recognized, many speculate that Warhol was using Basquiat to stay relevant, when their collaboration exhibition, Paintings was unsuccessful. Others speculated that Basquiat was using Warhol for fame.

Due to the negative reviews of Paintings, both Warhol and Basquiat became distant until Warhol 's death in '87. Andy Warhol's death became very hard for Basquiat to deal with. Unfortunately, Basquiat passed away a year later due to drug addiction.

Source(s):

https://www.sleek-mag.com/article/warhol-basquiat-bromance/

http://artistsinspireartists.com/painting/good-bad-andy-warhol-jean-michael-basquiat-collaboration