Where were you in 1982?
Phillips Auction House announces an upcoming sale of three paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat.
I don’t know about you, but for me, 1982 was lit. I was a freshman in college at UMass Amherst. I was also a budding queen and drug addict. Ronald Reagan was the president of the United States and AIDS was looming. Jean-Michel Basquiat, a rising star in the 80’s art market, expressed his genius in a completely fresh style that combined figurative art with text and pop imagery. He embodied the mood of 80’s ambition, fashion and music and became the darling of the artworld, capturing the hearts of a generation longing for an alternative to Regan’s whitewashed banality. As a young, bisexual black man, the white world of art was both attracted to and repulsed by Basquiat. His work challenged everything they stood for. He endured racism on a daily basis.
This week, the renowned auction house Phillips announced the upcoming sale of three Jean-Michel Basquiat paintings that were formerly part of the Francesco Pellizzi Family Collection. Basquiat, who had just started dating Madonna, painted the three in 1982 while he was represented by Annina Nosei, an early gallerist in Soho. Nosei provided studio space to the then struggling artist in the basement of her gallery on Prince Street. She would bring clients down to view the artist at work and entice them to buy. The practice has been described as exploitative and many thought Nosei treated Basquiat like a pet, which Basquiat later renounced. The sentiment however does highlight the subverted racism that Basquiat endured as the art world’s first black superstar.
The most valuable of the three paintings offered by Phillips is Basquiat’s 1982 Untitled (ELMAR), which has an estimate between $40 million and $60 million and will be sold on May 14th in New York. The painting, measuring nearly 8 feet wide, includes many signature Basquiat motifs such as text, a fallen angel and arrows. However, to me, Native Carrying Some Guns, Bibles, Amorites on Safari is the most interesting and captures what Basquiat was trying to say most poignantly. A black man holds his hands in the air, surrendering to a white colonial poacher, both carrying guns, existing in completely separate and double-standard worlds. Why Phillips has chosen to sell this painting in Hong Kong is both fascinating and troubling. Perhaps the subject matter is a little too hot here in America, where black men are still killed by white cops forty years after it was painted. Basquiat had his finger on what was going on in America while the rest of us wore blinders. Native Carrying Some Guns, Bibles, Amorites on Safari will be sold on May 31st in Hong Kong.
Here is a bit of Phillips’ announcement.
A testament to the auction house’s unwavering commitment to the legacy of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Phillips will offer three magnificent paintings by the artist this Spring, all formerly from the original collection of Francesco Pellizzi and the Pellizzi Family. Professor Pellizzi was the co-founder and editor of the journal Res, Anthropology and Aesthetics, published by the Peabody at Harvard and Chicago University Press. Each of the works was acquired by Professor Pellizzi from Annina Nosei in the early 1980s, a pivotal point in the artist’s career, and remained in his collection for decades. Phillips’ Evening Sales in New York and Hong Kong mark the first time that these important works will be offered publicly. Untitled (ELMAR), 1982, and Untitled (Portrait of a Famous Ballplayer), 1981, will be sold in New York on 14 May, with Native Carrying Some Guns, Bibles, Amorites on Safari, 1982, being offered two weeks later in Hong Kong on 31 May. Prior to the sales, the three works will be unveiled in New York for an exhibition open from 8-14 April, followed by a tour to Los Angeles from 23-25 April, marking the last time that they will be on view together.
You can read the full statement here.
Along with racism, Basquiat had other demons to wrestle with, heroin addiction among them, claimed his life in 1988. His career spanned just over a decade, but his raw talent lives on in his art. The highest price paid for a Basquiat, Untitled 1982, sold at Sotheby’s for $110 million in 2017, crowning him the most successful artist of his generation. It remains one of the most expensive paintings ever sold.
The preview exhibition of these three Basquiat paintings from one of the artist’s most important periods, is a once in a lifetime viewing opportunity. After the sale, they most likely will never be together again. Don’t miss them!
EXHIBIT DATES:
New York | 8-14 April | 432 Park Avenue, New York, NY, United States, 10022
Los Angeles | 23-25 April | 9041 Nemo St, Los Angeles, CA 90069
AUCTION DATES:
New York | 14 May | Untitled (ELMAR), 1982 and Untitled (Portrait of a Famous Ballplayer), 1981
Hong Kong | 31 May | Native Carrying Some Guns, Bibles, Amorites on Safari, 1982