Basquiat-isms

I have never known an artist that didn’t have something to say. At the very core of it all it’s communication that is the thing. The form can be dance, sculpture, music, or quilting…on and on. There is something of a story, a narrative, and some explanation, a dissection of every element of any and every work. The graffiti artist is among the greatest exponents of this idea and it is essential to the form. “Look at me through my work, I have a message, I have a story, I am here and I matter.” 

Jean-Michel Basquiat spoke cryptically and expressively first on walls and shortly following on canvases. He was somewhat shy but he expressed himself eloquently and poignantly in his spoken words. His thoughts and commentaries are now collected in book form “Basquiat-isms” edited by Larry Warsh. It is certainly of interest to his admirers across the globe. It is an excellent collection of the voicings he imparted within his short but all so vastly incredible life.  

In his brief twenty-seven year life Basquiat went from poverty and complete obscurity with such a meteoric progression that it could easily be referenced to as “over-night success.” It was really by no means so, as it unfolded in reality, referenced as so easily a thing as it might appear. It was however methodically planned, executed and created by his sheer will, determination and profuse understanding of the then (nineteen-eighties) New York art scene. It was no done without a measure of difficulty. Basquiat went from graffiti bomber (SAMO) to gallery representation to collected and sought out phenomenon, to now canonization. The book “Basquiat-isms” is a representation of this. It can inform, entertain, amuse and on occasion baffle you. I have sampled it here. Do enjoy and hopefully choose to seek it out for it’s entirety.

Quotes & Illustrations

"I like to have information rather than just a brushstroke. Just to have words to put in feelings." 

                                                                                             Jean-Michel Basquiat

 

“I don’t think about art when I work. I think about life.”

                                                                                                             Jean-Michel Basquiat

                                                                                                 

"Magic doesn’t especially Interest me. I like the intuition that tells me a work is finished." 

                                                                                                              Jean-Michel Basquiat

I was trying to communicate an idea. I was trying to paint an urban landscape. I was trying to make paintings different from painting that I saw which were mostly minimal that were highbrow and alienating.

                                                                                                         Jean-Michel Basquiat

"I usually put a lot down and then I take a lot away, then I put more down and take even more away, so it’s like a constant editing process."

                                                                                                         Jean-Michel Basquiat

"I like words that jump off the page when I see them."

                                                                                                         Jean-Michel Basquiat  

  

                              "I am what I am, what I am, what I am."

                                                                          Jean-Michel Basquiat

"It’s pretty primal; whatever I feel at the moment…sometimes it’s political sometimes not, I don’t know."

                                                                                                         Jean-Michel Basquiat

                                                                                                

"I think there are a lot of people that are neglected in art...I don’t know if it’s because of who made the paintings or what; but…Black people are never really portrayed realistically or I mean not even portrayed in modern art"

                                                                                             Jean-Michel Basquiat

"The more I paint the more I like everything."

                                                                                       Jean-Michel Basquiat

"Since I was 17, I thought I might be a star."

                                                                     Jean-Michel Basquiat

"I cross out words so you will see them more; the fact that they are obscured makes you want to read them."

                                                                          Jean-Michel Basquiat

 

"I think I make art for myself, but ultimately I think I make it for the world."

                                                                                   Jean-Michel Basquiat

"I don't like to discuss art at all"

                                                                                Jean-Michel Basquiat

  - Other artist in this series include:  Ai Weiwei, Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol, Yoko Ono, Keith Haring  and Futura -  

Michelangelo Buonarotti Studies & Drawings

The works remain and will be revered as long as men and women revere and adore the works of the human hand, the works of the human heart and soul.  His are without question among the most treasured in history; arguable the greatest, the most sublime. The mortal Michelangelo Buonarroti has gained immortality through the realization of his prodigious talents. They are so much desirably so grand.

There is a strength tempered with nuance and subtlety in the works of Michelangelo that is unique in a way that at best can only be instructional and imitated. His work is to be returned to many times over the course of our own lifetimes as reference and a source of inspirational joy.

Michelangelo; first as sculptor, painter, poet, architect and planner was gifted beyond imagination and his physical strength mythical in power. The Sistine Ceiling (unsurpassed in scale and ambition) Moses and the Pieta all exhibit his might, control and then restraint tempered with care. 

The drawings and studies of Michelangelo beautiful and compelling as any finished work of art by any hand are chosen here for your pleasure. They are testaments to God, love and the spirit endowed. I hope your spirit will be filled and replenished as you view them, as is yours to decide.

                                                   

Michelangelo Quotes

 “Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.”

 “From such a gentle thing, from such a fountain of all delight, my every pain is born.”

“I am a poor man and of little worth, who is laboring in that art that God has given me in order to extend my life as long as possible.”

“I hope that I may always desire more than I can accomplish.”

”If we have been pleased with life, we should not be displeased with death, since it comes from the hand of the same master.”

Picasso Sculpture @ MoMA

When the “New” Whitney opened earlier this year in Lower Manhattan (NYC) it became the most talked about museum among the many celebrated museums in the city. It was dimming the luster in particular of one of the New York greats; MoMA. I had wondered what the folks at MoMA would do to return the talk and the buzz as the leader in Modern and Contemporary Art. “Picasso Sculpture” featuring 100 pieces opens there Monday. It seems to be their response to the Whitney and promises to be a Block Buster.

The exhibition will feature many of the 20^th Century master’s best efforts. Picasso is noted as quite possibly the most innovative and prolific genius of all time. His sculpture attests extravagantly to his fame and ability. Picasso’s choices of materials range from bronze to plaster to cardboard. Found objects and assemblage rate highly among his sculptural works. The hand and mind of Picasso, always exciting, always exuberant on full display here should charm and delight every eye to behold each brilliant object.  The man is as strong a sculptural presence as any of his sculptor contemporaries, including Moore, Brancusi, Calder and Duchamp.

We are edging further into the 21^st century and there are no shortages of new artists on the contemporary scene. At every level Picasso continues to rank highly. There is a definitive, ageless quality to his works. I am including an extensive portfolio of the Picasso Sculptures and yes; I hope to visit them and MoMA soon.

TWILIGHT_Lower Manhattan

“Hell of a Town”…New York; still true. It is a town still very much alive, alarmingly vibrant and growing. Two of my grandkids and I enjoyed a phenomenal visit to “The Big Apple” (I’m not sure if it’s still called that) just this weekend past. Our focus was One World Trade Center. What had been a subject of heady, heated and heartfelt discussion for years following Nine-Eleven was now open to the public. It opened a few months ago and I could hardly wait to visit. At present it is essential two memorial sites, the 9/11 Museum and the beautiful and massive David Child’s architectural achievement Freedom Tower. There is limited access to the building and I say that only in a relative perspective. The observation tower is almost without peer especially in the western hemisphere. It is the tallest building in said hemisphere and third world wide. The tower is a symbolic 1,776 feet (the year marking American independence) an easily remembered number.

 We would begin our most recent adventure (day one) at what had once been called “Ground Zero.” Elevators rise to this “top of the world” in a staggering 60 seconds while the occupants are treated to the formation and visual history of Manhattan starting below ground in a state of the art video. Three of the elevator’s walls display the remarkable simulated time-lapse sequentially from pre-history to the Native Americans, the Dutch, and  20^th Century New York through to the present as the city grew literally into this new ziggurat of a structure. The ride is so fast that there is little time to adjust and for the record if you haven’t visited before stand with your back to the doors for the best view of this presentation. Another video follows after exiting the elevator to an IMAX size wall with a multi-medium experience that is spectacle for the eye and ear. The screen then rises to reveal the visual splendor of lower Manhattan in the present moment with an uninhibited almost reverential applause. It is a magnificent achievement and honor to behold. The best America has to offer.

Walking around the 360 degree observatory is a student of architecture’s dream. The view is that of a height only seen before through flight but with the luxury now of a stationary floor. The details, the distance and the sense of discovery are exhilarating. Buildings ranging from Gothic to Modern to Art Deco and Post Modern all in close proximity for view in both study and pleasure.  The entirety of the Lower portions of the city; ferries, tugs, sails on the East River and the Hudson…exciting stuff!

We left the World Trade Center for Battery Park; it’s performers, artists and tourists. The festival consisted of break dancers, ballerinas, snake handlers, portrait sketch artists and human Statues of Liberty on stilts. One thousand and one things to see and participate in; all there within the park.  We took a short walk on Wall Street where a crowd surrounded the Merrill Lynch Bull with kids lifted on it’s back posing happily and thrillingly for spectators as vendors sold bull replicas of all sizes and materials. We walked around the massive National Museum of the American Indian. The kids had their portraits done; ate ice cream and pretzels and drank plenty of water. This was while we waited for our twilight sea faring tour of Lower Manhattan by clipper ship.   

Our first travel by sail was everything and possible a hundred times more than hoped for. We had the wonderful vantage of seeing the harbor from three distinct vantage points of lighting; daylight, twilight (sunset) and night. These multiple views of the city, The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island were breath taking as we cruised in and around other vessels at multiple vantage points. The radiant sky stretched on for miles as the breeze gently propelled us forward. We talked with our fellow travelers and the sailors. We; within a very short time, fell in love with this civilized form of travel. The wind, the air, the sounds and rhythm of graceful motion won us over. The moment could have endured without end but tomorrow (day two) was for bicycles, Central Park, Park Ave. and possibly Time Square.