art, event/exhibition
Exhibit – Jean-Michel Basquiat: Art and Objecthood
Exhibit – Jean-Michel Basquiat: Art and Objecthood.
ABOUT EXHIBIT
NEW YORK—Nahmad Contemporary is pleased to present Jean-Michel Basquiat: Art and Objecthood, on view from April 11, through June 11, 2022. Curated by Basquiat scholar Dr. Dieter Buchhart, the exhibition is the first dedicated to the role of found objects and unconventional materials in the artist’s oeuvre. Basquiat, whose artistic practice has profoundly impacted audiences on an international scale, used objects and media from his environs to proliferate messages of social justice and change.
Bringing together a breadth of unconventional painted supports and found-object sculptures, Jean-Michel Basquiat: Art and Objecthood provides an innovative, in-depth look into the artist’s sculptural practice. In addition to painting and drawing on everything within his domestic spaces—refrigerators, chairs, cabinets—Basquiat harnessed and left his mark on items he encountered on the street—discarded windows and doors, mirrors, wood boards, subway tiles. Notably, such found objects were among the artist’s earliest creations. In a 1985 interview by Becky Johnston and Tamra Davis in California, Basquiat explained: “The first paintings I made were on windows I found on the street. And I used the window shape as a frame, and I just put the painting on the glass part and on doors I found on the street.” The found objects remained tied to their public origins, and the street, as a concept and space of association, became an important artistic subject.
Photography by Tom Powel
On view from April 11, through June 11, 2022.
Curated by Basquiat scholar Dr. Dieter Buchhart
NAHMAD CONTEMPORARY
980 Madison Avenue | Third Floor
New York NY 10075
Monday – Saturday 10AM – 6PM