Michel Basquiat Riddle Me This
Condition reports and provenance available upon request
About This Work
In *Michel Basquiat Riddle Me This*, Jean‑Michel Basquiat distils his signature neo‑expressionist language into a restless field of text, symbols, and fractured figuration. Working with urgent, graffiti‑derived mark‑making and a painterly abrasion that exposes the work’s layered construction, Basquiat treats the surface as a site of improvisation and critique. The “riddle” becomes a strategy: cryptic phrases, crowns, and diagrammatic motifs compel viewers to decode histories of power, race, and representation. Balancing raw line with bursts of colour and scrawled erasures, the composition channels the energy of 1980s New York while speaking directly to contemporary debates around identity, authorship, and cultural memory. A compelling example of Basquiat’s radical visual poetry.
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