Michel Basquiat Ascent Leeches Olympus Libe
Condition reports and provenance available upon request
About This Work
In *Michel Basquiat Ascent Leeches Olympus Libe*, Jean-Michel Basquiat conjures a mythic, confrontational ascent—part coronation, part trial. Urgent brushwork and scrawled line collide with emblematic fragments: a laddering rise toward “Olympus” disrupted by parasitic “leeches,” suggesting the costs of cultural elevation and the extraction of Black genius. Basquiat’s signature fusion of street-born mark-making and art-historical citation creates a compressed field where text functions as rhythm, accusation, and chant. The composition’s raw immediacy—abrasions, crossings-out, and declarative glyphs—amplifies its visceral impact, positioning ambition and exploitation in tense, unforgettable balance.
About the Artist
Jean-Michel Basquiat ( BAH-skee-AH(T), French: [ʒɑ̃ miʃɛl baskja]; December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the neo-expressionism movement. Basquiat first achieved notoriety in the late 1970s as part of the graffiti duo SAMO, alongsi...
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Contemporary Art • Hampstead, London
Established 1976 • 50 years of excellence in contemporary art • Professional authentication and provenance research