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Jean-Michel
Basquiat.
Jean-Michel Basquiat was recognised for his neo-expressionist art, his use of intensely grotesque imagery (lacking realism), letters and motifs, with the resulting artistic creation encapsulating themes of frantic and raw energy, giving each literary and artistic piece an intense/agnostic rendering of the subject matter.
Basquiat’s early career in street action of the 1970s first manifested itself under the tag SAMO©, inscribing his thought/messaging on the edifices of the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York. His writings of this time comprised witty philosophical poems such as “for those of us who merely tolerate civilisation”.
Basquiat grappled with the conflicts intrinsic to the human experience, and found it traumatising to voice the ‘unspeakable’. The secret to Basquiat’s mixed collages, abstract inscriptions and figurative drawings (influenced by African/Haitian history, art, masks and symbolism, the crown, the mutilation of the human anatomy, and death) addressed the perennial issue of the politics of dehumanization; spontaneously invoking/articulating the feelings and the story behind the work.
Through his oeuvre, Basquiat exposes the inherent nuances and dichotomy in today’s cultures, normalisation and traditions.
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