Jean Michel Basquiat was a New York based artist born on December 22, 1960. He was a part of the graffiti group called SAMO and tagged many parts of New York City, more specifically in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Having collaborated with many artists such as Keith Haring and Andy Warhol, Basquiat gained popularity. His life is cut short after a drug overdose on August 12, 1988, but his legacy grew increasingly important.

“Untitled (God/Law)” 1981, Oilstick on Paper, Jean-Michel Baquiat

The opening of the exhibition: Basquiat: The Unknown Notebooks at the Brooklyn Museum holds an interesting collection of never before seen notebooks filled with poetry, sketches, writing and displays of large scale paintings. The exhibition also includes two videos of Basquiat. One video showed an interview with Basquiat and the other one was about his SAMO movement. One favorite artwork in the exhibition, in particular is “Untitled (God/Law)” from the year 1981. It is a piece that was created with oil stick on paper. The artwork shows a balance towards the center, with the capitalized words God and Law on each side. The word “God” is written on the left side with a box, whereas the word “Law” is written on the right side with a box. In the middle of the balance, between the words, he drew a dollar sign. Basquiat also incorporates the use of faint water markings with the colors red and blue. He adds black polka dots in random order and other stray marks. The artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat wanted to provides an insight into religion and law. Religion has its own set of rules, but outside of a religion, there are the other laws people have to conform with. This ideology centers on the balance of both “God” and “Law”. More specifically, the money sign references greed. Similarly, The heavy use of the color black in the artwork could promote, evil, fear, or power. One interesting factor in the artwork is, the balance is more elevated on the “God” side and heavier on the “Law” side, which may or may not have been the intention of the artist. These connections, however, do show how society can become unbalanced when it is introduced to issues that involve religion and law. Basquiat never fails to exhibit social and historical issues in his artwork. He addresses issues of race, culture, and heritage. He succeeds in applying these views through his artwork, which makes him an important artist of all time.

The Brooklyn Museum will be hosting Basquiat: The Unknown Notebooks from April 3rd to August 23rd, 2015.