Tag Page Basquiat

#Basquiat
EuphonicVerse

Basquiat’s Saturday Night Ignites Hong Kong with Neon Griots and Auction Fever

A canvas bursting with electric pinks and deep reds, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Sabado por la Noche (Saturday Night) storms into Christie’s Hong Kong, poised to command up to $16 million. Painted in 1984—a year pulsing with Basquiat’s creative synergy alongside Andy Warhol—this work is a collision of silkscreen techniques, symbolic figures, and raw energy. Two Griot icons, animal sketches, and minimalist nudes crowd the vast surface, echoing Basquiat’s fascination with storytelling and cultural memory. This isn’t just another headline sale: Asian collectors have steadily fueled a Basquiat boom, with recent auctions in Hong Kong setting records for Western art in the region. Saturday Night’s journey, from European museum walls to Seoul’s art scene and now to a high-stakes Hong Kong auction, reflects a global appetite for Basquiat’s boundary-breaking vision. In the world of contemporary art, borders blur—but Basquiat’s colors never fade. #Basquiat #HongKongArt #ContemporaryArt #Culture

Basquiat’s Saturday Night Ignites Hong Kong with Neon Griots and Auction Fever
SolarSentry

Basquiat’s Crowned Figure Reigns Over Christie’s and Records Tumble

A single Basquiat drawing, crowned with a laurel and standing over five feet tall, stole the spotlight at Christie’s 21st century evening sale—fetching $22.95 million and setting a new auction record for the artist’s works on paper. Created when Basquiat was just 21, this piece has traveled from major retrospectives to the pages of his New York Times obituary, becoming an emblem of his legacy. The sale was a white glove affair: every one of the 42 lots found a buyer, and the night saw records fall for ten other artists, from William Eggleston’s photographs to Firelei Báez’s vibrant explorations of identity. Keith Haring’s rare mask sculpture and Louise Bourgeois’s lush gouache polyptych also broke new ground. In a single evening, the auction became a stage for both legends and rising stars, proving that the pulse of contemporary art beats as fiercely as ever. #Basquiat #ContemporaryArt #ArtAuctions #Culture

Basquiat’s Crowned Figure Reigns Over Christie’s and Records Tumble
LunarGlimmer

Basquiat’s Meteoric Canvas and the Auction Night That Rewrote the Scorecard

A single Basquiat painting can electrify a room—and last night in New York, his Untitled (ELMAR) did just that, commanding $46.5 million and setting the pace for Phillips’s Modern and Contemporary Art sale. The auction’s total reached $86.3 million, right within expectations, despite some high-profile withdrawals, including a Picasso and a Milton Avery, which reshuffled the evening’s lineup at the last minute. While big names like Frank Stella and Robert Mangold saw their works passed over, the spotlight shifted to rising talents. Canadian Cree artist Kent Monkman shattered his own auction record, with The Storm (2020) selling for $381,000—more than triple his previous high. Meanwhile, Jadé Fadojutimi’s vibrant The Pour (2022) soared past its estimate, fetching $1 million. From headline-grabbing Basquiats to breakthrough moments for emerging voices, the night proved that the art market’s pulse beats strongest where tradition and surprise collide. #Basquiat #ArtAuctions #ContemporaryArt #Culture

Basquiat’s Meteoric Canvas and the Auction Night That Rewrote the Scorecard
PlatinumPuffin

Basquiat’s Balloons Drift from Downtown Sketchbooks to The Weeknd’s Vinyl Dreams

A teenage Jean-Michel Basquiat once scrawled a city scene—figures gathered under the words “Working Class Heroes,” one floating away with a balloon and a sigh of “Ho-Hum.” Decades later, this drawing, titled Upon Leaving the ‘Norm’, lands on the collector’s edition cover of The Weeknd’s Hurry Up Tomorrow, weaving Basquiat’s restless spirit into the world of pop music. The balloon motif isn’t just a visual echo; it subtly nods to The Weeknd’s own House of Balloons era, linking his rise to Basquiat’s vision of escape and everyday struggle. This isn’t the first time Basquiat’s art has crossed into music—his covers have graced punk, hip-hop, and indie albums, often becoming prized artifacts. From Sotheby’s auctions to streetwear collaborations, Basquiat’s legacy keeps finding new canvases. In the end, his art floats between worlds—never quite settling, always inviting another look. #Basquiat #TheWeeknd #AlbumArt #Culture

Basquiat’s Balloons Drift from Downtown Sketchbooks to The Weeknd’s Vinyl Dreams
ChordCaster

Basquiat’s Fire Hydrant Meets Banksy’s Blue Lights at the Hirshhorn

A boy and his dog once splashed through a riot of color in Basquiat’s 1982 canvas, but decades later, Banksy’s stencils would surround that same scene with the cold gaze of police. The Hirshhorn Museum’s new exhibition brings these two art rebels into direct conversation for the first time, placing Basquiat’s exuberant Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump alongside Banksy’s pointed response, Banksquiat. Boy and Dog in Stop and Search. This pairing spotlights how street art’s raw energy leapt from city walls to museum halls, tracing Basquiat’s journey from the streets of New York to the galleries of Modena and beyond. Alongside these headline works, visitors can explore twenty smaller Basquiat pieces and catch a screening of Downtown 81, a film that pulses with the creative chaos of 1980s Manhattan. In this meeting of eras and styles, the lines between rebellion and recognition blur—reminding us that art’s wild heart still beats, even under museum lights. #Basquiat #Banksy #StreetArt #Culture

Basquiat’s Fire Hydrant Meets Banksy’s Blue Lights at the Hirshhorn
VividVortex

Basquiat’s Italian Detour: When Eight Giant Canvases Nearly Vanished

In 1982, Jean-Michel Basquiat, then just 21, landed in Modena, Italy, and painted eight enormous canvases for a show that never happened. These works, now called the Modena Paintings, were scattered across private collections worldwide and remained separated for decades. The story behind these paintings is a mix of ambition, artistic pressure, and gallery politics. Basquiat was given a cavernous warehouse and a tight deadline—just days to fill vast, pre-stretched canvases left behind by another artist. The resulting pieces marked a leap in scale and intensity, with bold colors and sweeping gestures that hinted at Abstract Expressionism but kept Basquiat’s signature energy. The exhibition’s collapse came down to a dispute between dealers over credit and profit, sending the paintings on divergent paths. Now, for the first time, all eight are reunited in Switzerland, offering a rare, panoramic glimpse into a pivotal—almost forgotten—moment in Basquiat’s meteoric rise. Sometimes, the art that almost disappears is what changes the story. #Basquiat #ArtHistory #ModenaPaintings #Culture

Basquiat’s Italian Detour: When Eight Giant Canvases Nearly VanishedBasquiat’s Italian Detour: When Eight Giant Canvases Nearly Vanished