Daily Times

MILAN: New York’s Eighties art scene is coming to Milan with a show dedicated to the late Haitian-American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose works now sell for phenomenal sums.

From his child-like skull and crown paintings to his poetic and enigmatic anatomical depictions, the Museum of Culture in the north Italian city is holding a retrospective until February into the works of the art prodigy who died from a drug overdose aged just 27.

Born in 1960 in Brooklyn to a Haitian father and Puerto Rican mother, the young, handsome Basquiat became one of the most celebrated and influential artists of his generation, leaving more than 2,000 drawings or paintings. “Basquiat conquered the world” with his genius, said Gianni Mercurio, who co-curated the exhibition with Jeffery Deitch, who had been one of the painter’s friends.

The retrospective, which runs near chronologically, exhibits works executed between 1980 and 1987, largely on loan from the private collection of prominent New York art dealer Jose Mugrabi, who also knew Basquiat. Some 140 paintings, drawings and ceramics await visitors, from street art to the youngster’s collaboration with pop art master Andy Warhol, who he met and formed a close relationship with in 1980.

Basquiat, who was a regular museum-goer as a child but dropped out of school at 16, first rose to prominence in the 1970s with graffitied statements across SoHo, done with friend Al Diaz and signed “SAMO” (“same old, same old bullshit”).

His work then began to evolve into colourful paintings, using acrylics, oils, pastels and creating collages on paintings, tables or doors. Many of his creations feature words and have been described as bridging traditional tribal art and socio-political missives.