Since the birth of his art career, Jean-Michel Basquiat has become one of the most influential figures of the neo-expressionism movement. He began as a member of the New York City graffiti duo SAMO during the late 1970s and was showcased in museums and galleries around the world by the turn of the decade, becoming the youngest artist to be featured in Germany’s renowned contemporary art exhibition “Documenta.”
His work now hangs in The Grand LA, where over 200 never and rarely seen paintings, drawings, ephemera and artifacts from his family’s estate will be displayed in a new exhibition called “King Pleasure.”
“(Basquiat) was … a sponge for popular culture, and so much of that is infused into his work,” said curator Ileen Gallagher of ISG Productions. “Every painting is almost like a history lesson.”
Gallagher described the collection as “eclectic,” including items like Basquiat’s earliest sketchbook in 1977 along with his famed “Blue Ribbon” paintings. It will also include recreations of his NYC artist studio on Great Jones Street, the Basquiat family home and the Michael Todd VIP Room of the Palladium nightclub, for which Basquiat created two large scale paintings.
The approach for the exhibition, produced by The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat, was to provide a personal look into Basquiat’s life from the view of his family so that audiences can gain a greater understanding of his background, his inspirations and the influences that informed his work.
“That’s the differentiating factor, … showing the breadth and the depth of his work in a completely different way,” Gallagher said. “Most exhibitions of his work, you don’t see his ephemera; you don’t hear from his family. They just present the aesthetics of his work, which a lot of people are very familiar with, but what we really tried to do is infuse it with a kind of context so that you really understood the person behind the work.”
Gallagher worked alongside Basquiat’s sisters, Lisane Basquiat and Jeanine Heriveaux, to curate the exhibition, which recently enjoyed a landmark run in NYC’s Starrett-Lehigh Building that drew over 210,000 visitors before landing in Downtown LA.
“When we were curating the show, I learned so much,” Gallagher recalled. “I really didn’t have any idea (of Basquiat’s depth and far-reaching influence). I appreciated the aesthetics of his work and his color palette, but I didn’t really appreciate kind of the meaning behind many of the works.
“There’s a lot of the drawings that I’ve really been struck by. There’s one of the little dog whom the Russians sent into space. … I love the sense of humor in “Those Who Dress Better Can Receive Christ.” It’s things like that that have really resonated with me, and I appreciate his irony and his sense of purpose in these works.”
Along with displaying Basquiat’s art, “King Pleasure” will hold an array of public programming and community initiatives. During its time in NYC, the space hosted the “Those Who Dress Better” program, which gave nine emerging Black designers access to Basquiat’s artwork and commissioned them for a limited-run capsule collection; “King Screen,” a special film-driven exhibition of both emerging and established filmmakers and visual artists; and the “Family Dinner” series, which highlighted different chefs and cuisines in partnership with volunteer-led mutual aid organization Food With Fam.
“We are going to be working with P.S. Arts, which is a nonprofit arts institution in Los Angeles, to do school visits, to bring school children to the exhibition and also offer art making workshops,” Gallagher said. “We will be doing a lot of public-facing programs around Jean-Michel’s interest in film, music and fashion. … We’re also planning family and community nights throughout the run of the exhibition in conjunction with P.S. Arts. These will be a visit to the exhibition and an art making activity for families.”
Gallagher’s hope for both program participants and exhibition audiences is that each viewer can form an emotional connection to Basquiat and his work through “King Pleasure.”
“I think that that’s the most important thing,” she said. “Looking at things on a white wall in a regular museum setting can be kind of off-putting for a lot of people, but we really tried to create an environment and a context where you would feel very welcomed and have the ability to really explore your emotions around the work when viewing with the context of his life.”
“Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure”
WHEN: Exhibition runs until Monday, July 31
WHERE: The Grand LA, 100 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles
COST: $32 for weekday tickets, $35 for weekend tickets, $28 for seniors (65 and older), high school and college students and military, $25 for kids (under 13), $65 for VIP