Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) - Untitled (Fallen Angel) - Giclée - Artestar licensed print - COA

Giclée print of Jean-Michel Basquiat (**)
High-quality reproduction of the work “Untitled” created by Basquiat in 1981.
Luxury edition on Monte Carlo heavyweight watercolor paper (300 g/m2)
Print authorized by Artestar New York.
Copyright of the Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Specifications:

- Support dimensions: 35 x 40 cm
- Stain dimensions: 25 x 30 cm
- Condition: Excellent (this work has never been framed or exhibited, and has always been kept in a professional art folder, so it is offered in perfect condition).

The work will be carefully handled and packed in a reinforced flat carton package. The shipment will be certified with a tracking number, operated by the best transport companies (UPS DPD DHL FedEx).

The shipment will also include full insurance for the final value of the work with full reimbursement in case of loss or damage, at no cost to the buyer.

(*) Jean-Michel Basquiat was the first of the three children of Matilde Andrades and Gerard Basquiat. His father was a Haitian accountant of respectable financial solvency and his mother a Puerto Rican graphic designer of great prestige in her profession. Jean-Michel grew up in a fragmented family environment; his parents divorced and due to this he had to change schools many times. He studied at a private Catholic school, later at a public school and finally, at 16, he enrolled in City-As-School, a school for highly gifted teenagers, from which he was expelled, for rebellion, a year before graduating.
Already in his youth he came into contact with the subculture of the big city, related to drug use and street gangs. In 1977, together with Al Díaz, he entered the world of graffiti, painting on subway cars and around the SoHo area, a New York neighborhood where art galleries proliferate.
The following year he left school a year before graduating high school and left home to live on the streets for two years, in abandoned buildings or with his friends in Lower Manhattan, surviving by selling postcards and T-shirts that he himself decorated. He continued to work on graffiti; his writings and inscriptions carried a lot of poetic and philosophical weight, but above all satirical. The alias of his alter ego shared with Al Díaz was SAMO (short for “Same Old Shit,” i.e., “the same old crap,” which is what they signed their tags and graffiti with cryptic messages. The use of this name was decisive in his life.
These murals bore inscriptions like “SAMO saves idiots” or “SAMO ends religious brainwashing, the politics of nothingness, and fake philosophy.” An article about SAMO’s street writing published in The Village Voice was the first hint that the art world was taking an interest in him.
The artist had several relationships that influenced his work; one of the most significant was with artist Andy Warhol.
Likewise, in the romantic sphere, he was involved with several women, one of the most well-known today being Madonna. Lower Manhattan was the area where they lived at that time; in 1982 they began spending more time together and going to parties in galleries. A topic that united them, she mentions in an interview: “She was a big fan of Miles Davis and Charlie Parker.”
In 1988 exhibitions were installed in Paris and New York, and in April of that same year he tried to overcome his addictions and retired to his home in Hawaii. He returned to New York in June, announcing that he had freed himself from the addictions, but on August 12, 1988, at the age of 27, he died of a heroin overdose, becoming the most successful visual artist in the history of African-descendant art. He is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.
Throughout his short but intense artistic career he would undertake more than 40 solo exhibitions and participate in around 100 group ones. Self-promotion and advertising appeal were, for Basquiat, priority factors, as they had been for Andy Warhol or Julian Schnabel before him.
Neo-Expressionism came to dominate over appropriationism, partly thanks to the economic boom that raised art prices to high levels, and especially painting, and partly thanks to the support of gallerists and collectors. However, the critics were not unanimous in their appraisal, and it was common to denounce the lack of theoretical grounding in the neo-expressionist discourse. It was claimed that the art practiced by neo-expressionists had no political or social meaning, it was only merchandise and, therefore, subject to the swings and fluctuations of the market. Neo-expressionist painting was reduced to a consumer product and, as such, to a creatively disqualified and vulgar act.

(***) Basquiat created this piece, now known as Fallen Angel, in 1981. It was one of his early works, in which he crossed street art with canvas painting.
Still full of his pure energy and emotion, Basquiat used acrylics, oils, and sprays to create this work. The colors he used have been described by the writer Prat as “the colors of the street,” an apt description of the bright star that developed his skills as part of the SAMO graffiti duo.
This Fallen Angel Untitled is a fascinating image, though slightly unsettling. A figure that looks human falls or hovers over a bright blue background, but its wings are spread wide. Its eyes, open and fixed, are speckled with red and its red mouth is open.
It has a halo around its head. The halo, made up of red, white, and black circles, is crossed by brushstrokes. This gives it an irregular and possibly thorny appearance. Some have described the torso of the figure as if seen through an X-ray, with internal organs and genitals visible. Other Basquiat works also show skeletal figures, which some experts suggest refer to Basquiat’s reflections on his own physicality and mortality. Above the right wing sits a faint crown, a symbol frequently found in Basquiat’s work, though this one is fairly small and not as sharp as others.
It has been suggested that this image of the angel and the crown could symbolize Basquiat’s sense of destiny or personal mission. Undoubtedly, he had a sense of destiny, which led his friends to believe he would become a famous artist and die young.
Although the image appears primitive, the wild paintings in overlapped colors give it an explosive impact.
This work sold for $11.2 million in 2008.