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Writing the Future. Basquiat and the Hip-Hop Generation

Oct 18, 2020 - Jul 25, 2021

The post-graffiti moment in 1980s New York City marked the transition of street art from city walls and subway trains onto canvas and into the art world. Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960鈥1988) became the galvanizing, iconic frontrunner of this transformational and insurgent movement in contemporary American art, which resulted in an unprecedented fusion of creative energies that defied longstanding racial divisions. This exhibition features his works in painting, sculpture, drawing, video, music, and fashion, alongside works by his contemporaries鈥攁nd sometimes collaborators鈥A-One, ERO, Fab Five Freddy, Futura, Keith Haring, Kool Koor, LA2, Lady Pink, Lee, Rammellzee, and Toxic. Throughout the 1980s, these artists fueled new directions in fine art, design, and music, driving the now-global popularity of hip-hop culture.

鈥淲riting the Future: Basquiat and the Hip-Hop Generation鈥 illuminates how this group鈥檚 subversive abstractions of both visual and verbal language鈥攊ncluding neo-expressionism, freestyle sampling, and wildstyle lettering鈥攔ocketed their creative voices onto the main stages of international art and music. It is the first major exhibition to contextualize Basquiat鈥檚 work in relation to his peers associated with hip-hop culture. It also marks the first time Basquiat鈥檚 extensive, robust, and reflective portraiture of his Black and Latinx friends and fellow artists has been given prominence in scholarship on his oeuvre. Notable among those works is the much-revered painting Hollywood Africans, which lionizes Toxic and Rammellzee, the legendary artist/philosopher who is also represented with multiple works in 鈥淲riting the Future,鈥 and with whom Basquiat created the prophetic, influential, and talismanic rap song 鈥淏eat Bop.鈥



The post-graffiti moment in 1980s New York City marked the transition of street art from city walls and subway trains onto canvas and into the art world. Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960鈥1988) became the galvanizing, iconic frontrunner of this transformational and insurgent movement in contemporary American art, which resulted in an unprecedented fusion of creative energies that defied longstanding racial divisions. This exhibition features his works in painting, sculpture, drawing, video, music, and fashion, alongside works by his contemporaries鈥攁nd sometimes collaborators鈥A-One, ERO, Fab Five Freddy, Futura, Keith Haring, Kool Koor, LA2, Lady Pink, Lee, Rammellzee, and Toxic. Throughout the 1980s, these artists fueled new directions in fine art, design, and music, driving the now-global popularity of hip-hop culture.

鈥淲riting the Future: Basquiat and the Hip-Hop Generation鈥 illuminates how this group鈥檚 subversive abstractions of both visual and verbal language鈥攊ncluding neo-expressionism, freestyle sampling, and wildstyle lettering鈥攔ocketed their creative voices onto the main stages of international art and music. It is the first major exhibition to contextualize Basquiat鈥檚 work in relation to his peers associated with hip-hop culture. It also marks the first time Basquiat鈥檚 extensive, robust, and reflective portraiture of his Black and Latinx friends and fellow artists has been given prominence in scholarship on his oeuvre. Notable among those works is the much-revered painting Hollywood Africans, which lionizes Toxic and Rammellzee, the legendary artist/philosopher who is also represented with multiple works in 鈥淲riting the Future,鈥 and with whom Basquiat created the prophetic, influential, and talismanic rap song 鈥淏eat Bop.鈥



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