From Beethoven to bebop to his own abrasive, atonal ‘noise band’, the now revered artist tuned his work to music at every turn of his career, as a major new show reveals
Last modified on Fri 11 Jun 2021 06.01 EDT
Before Jean-Michel Basquiat became one of the leading art stars of the 1980s, he was a kid from Brooklyn thriving in the music and art scenes of downtown New York in the late 1970s.
âEveryone was coexisting together, musicians and artists,â says Ed Patuto, the producer of Time Decorated: The Musical Influences of Jean-Michel Basquiat, three short films that explore the artistâs relationship to bebop, no wave, and hip-hop. âYou would go to a gallery, see a show, end up at [legendary East Village club] the Pyramid. Moving between platforms and genres was what people did.â
‘Time Decorated’ Looks At The Influence Music Had On Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Art Essence 2/18/2021 Miles Marshall Lewis
Jean-Michel Basquiat left behind enough artwork before his untimely death in 1988 to be remembered forever as one of the greatest painters of the 20th century. Uniqlo emblazons T-shirts with his most famous paintings; both Coach and Doc Martens sell merch reproducing his paint strokes on their expensive leather goods; and tattoos of his signature crown adorn the skin of everyone from Zoë Kravitz to this writer.
Everybody wants to claim Basquiat, including different factions from the world of music. To that end, The Broad contemporary art museum in downtown L.A. recently launched a three-part video series Time Decorated: The Musical Influences of Jean-Michel Basquiat dedicated to celebrating the impact of jazz, punk, and hip-hop on his art.
The Broad announcesÂ
Time Decorated: The Musical Influences of Jean-Michel Basquiat, a three-part video series dedicated to the famed New York City artist. The video series includes three segments,Â
Jazz and Bebop,Â
Punk and No Wave, andÂ
Bebop 2 Hip Hop via Basquiat, where musicians, creatives and scholars discuss the impact of each music genre on Basquiatâs now iconic style. All three segments were filmed at the Broad, in newly installed Basquiat galleries displaying the museumâs uniquely deep representation of the artistâs work.
Home to an unparalleled collection of Basquiatâs art, The Broad seeks to honor his legacy by exploring its musical foundations. For the first time in the museumâs five-year history, all thirteen paintings by Basquiat in the Broad collection will be on view when the museum reopens to the public, includingÂ
The Music Center and dublab present A Quiet Scene, an outdoor video collaboration project from Brian Enos and Roger Enos. (Cecily Eno)
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