Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) - Sienna - Giclée - 50x45 - Artestar licensed print *COA*

Giclée Print (*) by Jean-Michel Basquiat (**)
High-quality reproduction of the work “Sienna,” created by Basquiat in 1984.
Luxurious edition on heavyweight Monte Carlo watercolor paper (300 g/m2).
Print authorized by Artestar New York.
Copyright of the Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Includes Certificate of Authenticity (COA).

Specifications:

- Support dimensions: 50 x 45 cm
- Stain/Artwork dimensions: 40 x 35 cm
- Condition: Excellent (this work has never been framed or exhibited and has always been kept in a professional art folder, therefore it is offered in perfect condition).

The artwork will be carefully handled and packed in a reinforced flat cardboard package. The shipment will be insured and trackable, delivered by top transport companies (UPS DPD DHL FedEx).

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

(*) Giclée is a term referring to a high-quality fine art printing process created digitally with inkjet printers. This process uses pigment-based inks and specialized papers to achieve sharpness, color accuracy, and durability, ideal for art reproductions and photographs.

(**) Jean-Michel Basquiat was the eldest of the three children of Matilde Andrades and Gerard Basquiat. His father was a financially solid Haitian accountant and his mother a Puerto Rican graphic designer of great prestige in her field. Jean-Michel grew up in a troubled family environment; his parents divorced, and he had to change schools many times. He studied at a private Catholic school, later at a public school, and finally, at 16, he entered City-As-School, a school for gifted teenagers, from which he was expelled for rebellion a year before graduating.
In his youth he came into contact with the city’s subculture, linked to drug use and street gangs. In 1977, together with Al Diaz, he entered the world of graffiti, painting on subway cars and around SoHo, a New York neighborhood where art galleries abound.
A year later he left school a year before finishing high school and left home to live on the streets for two years in abandoned buildings or with friends in Lower Manhattan, surviving by selling postcards and T-shirts that he decorated himself. He remained dedicated to graffiti; his writings and graffiti carried poetic and philosophical weight, but above all satirical. The alias of his shared alter ego with Al Diaz was SAMO (short for “Same Old Shit,” i.e., “the same old stuff,” with which they signed their tags and cryptic messages). The use of this name was decisive in his life.
These murals bore inscriptions such as “SAMO saves fools” or “SAMO ends religious brainwashing, the politics of nothingness, and false philosophy.” An article about SAMO’s street writing published in The Village Voice was the first sign 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.
In terms of romance, he was involved with several women; one of the most well-known today was Madonna. Lower Manhattan was where they lived at the time; in 1982 they began spending more time together and going to parties in galleries. One thing that united them, she mentions in an interview: “I 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 moved to his home in Hawaii. He returned to New York in June, announcing that he had freed himself from his addictions, but on August 12, 1988, at age 27, he died of a heroin overdose, becoming the most successful visual artist in the history of Afro-descendant art. He is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn.
Over his short but intense artistic career, he would hold over 40 solo shows and participate in around 100 group shows. Self-promotion and advertising clout were priorities for Basquiat, as they had previously been for Andy Warhol or Julian Schnabel.
Neo-Expressionism came to dominate over appropriationism, partly due to rising economic power that pushed art prices, especially painting, to new heights, and partly due to the support of gallery owners and collectors. However, critics were not unanimous in their assessment, and there was frequent denunciation of the neo-expressionist discourse’s lack of theoretical grounding. It was argued that neo-expressionist art had no political or social meaning, that it was just merchandise and, therefore, subject to the fluctuations of the market. Neo-expressionist painting was reduced to a consumer product and, as such, an act creatively devalued and vulgar.