Andy Liu / Jean-Michel Basquiat

 

Jean-Michel Basquiat x Andy Warhol - "Taxi, 45th/Broadway"

            

            Jean-Michel Basquiat was an American Neo-Expressionism artist that achieved critical acclaim in the 1980s for his expressive and politically charged paintings. Basquiat's works often expressed sentiments of racism and classism struggles that he experienced as a young black artist in New York City. Starting off as a Graffiti artist under the name "SAMO©", Basquiat and his partner Al Diaz would paint statements that could range from fragments of poetry, their feelings towards society, or just random sayings. He eventually transitioned away from Graffiti and into paintings on canvas. Even for his young age he was exploring different ideas and thoughts about topics such as wealth disparities between the wealthy and the impoverished, segregation versus integration, and his experiences as a black man in his community. 

            Hello, my name is Andy and I am currently a sophomore at NJCU. I am an art major and I enjoy painting and looking at different types of art in my free time. In this painting that I selected titled "Taxi, 45th/Broadway" is a collaboration with Andy Warhol that depicts Basquiat's experience as a young black man that is being denied a cab ride while the cab driver drives off yelling obscenities at him. The reason why I chose this piece is because of how relevant and poignant the message of this piece is. Even though this piece was created circa 1984-1985 we still face the same racial stereotypes in 2022. It feels as if very small, if any, progress has been made since the 80s to actually address the issue of racism nationwide, and the fact that our previous president, Donald Trump, was proudly racist speaks to the state of our country today. Basquiat is a big influence to me and was one of first artists that made me want to paint. I have always admired the expressive and chaotic nature of his works. The way he broke and disregarded the rules of art inspired me to do whatever I want to do, and to do it exactly how I want to do it.