Basquiat Painting Appreciation

 

Photo by O. Douglas Jennings, taken at the Art Institute of Chicago

I hadn't made a visit to the Art Institute of Chicago for a couple of years. So upon my return there in 2021, I was happy to see they had acquired this iconic painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Below is my transcription of the museum info plaque that accompanies the painting:

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Jean-Michel Basquiat
American, 1960 - 1988

Boy and Dog in Johnnypump
1982
Acrylic, crayon and spray paint on canvas

Created at the height of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s brief career, Boy and Dog in Johnnypump centers on what the artist termed “kings, heroes, and the street,” alluding to his representation of the black body in New York street life. Basquiat’s bold and expressive compositions —inspired by a a graffiti-like aesthetic— established him as a leading figure of contemporary art in the 1980s.

As the painting’s title suggests, the boy and dog stand in the space of a fire hydrant, or “johnnypump” —regularly uncapped to provide a respite from blazing-hot Summer days. Here, the gestural application of the red, yellow, and orange mimics the gush of water yet transforms the water’s cooling effect into a fiery scene. For the figures, Basquiat drew from sources such as comic strips, drawings from surgical textbook Gray’s Anatomy, and the sketches and graffiti he made in his youth. Basquiat conflated the interior and exterior body of his subjects, painting a visceral scene of everyday street life.

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 Basquiat's style has been described as "Neo-Expressionism" which I think is appropriate with its bold, raw imagery and almost-confrontational color palette. He famously collaborated with Andy Warhol. I feel his work held its own against Warhol's very well.