City, music, text: Jean-Michel Basquiat’s New York City in the 80ies

Abstract

Manhattan in the early-80ies is the breeding ground for the paintings of Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960–1988). As a painter, graffiti artist, musician and poet, Basquiat is part of this explosive art and music scene. The artist himself was involved in hip-hop performances and he also portrayed many famous Jazz musicians. Rhythm and improvisation are essential for his mode of perceiving and representing the city. Basquiat’s visual representations absorb the city’s vibrant soundscapes as a new and innovative form of artistic language. An important aspect of his paintings is the artist’s background as a graffiti writer. Basquiat often makes use of words or letters that refer to the urban surrounding and to his own Afro-Caribbean heritage. This contribution asks in how far the urban landscape of New York is essential for Basquiat’s work and what aspects of urban life are represented. There are four aspects being discussed: First, the iconotextual aspects of his painting will be a point of interest. Then, Basquiat’s art is being discussed within the broader frame of hip-hop culture and of the New York City’s ethnically diverse popular culture. Finally, I want to ask if the specific ›urban intermediality‹ that results from Basquiat’s ›readings‹ of and ›listenings‹ to the City may be called an ›aesthetics of heightened awareness‹.