ART: 4/5’s BASQUIAT! Spring, 2024

There is a lot of depth in the art of Basquiat. I go into the social commentary a bit, talking about the role of his mostly black figures being raised up with the three pointed crown or the halo, issues of wealth and poverty, inclusion and exclusion, but mostly I focus on the visuals that make up many of his paintings. I introduce them to the word, “motif” by emphasizing the use of the crown repeatedly in Basquiat’s work. We also look at his use of color fields which are prevalent in his backgrounds and figures and lastly his use of words in the paintings. I ask the artists to try to include these elements in their Basquiat inspired drawings.