‘King Pleasure’ Presents Jean-Michel Basquiat As Son, Brother, Boy, Man

His birth announcement from 1960. Baby pictures and family photos from throughout his childhood.

A teenage report card with a teacher’s comments, “Jean Michel is subject to mischief; he talks a great deal to his neighbors and interrupts my class at regular intervals.”

A passport from 1986.

A tiny detailing of the amazing collection of objects from the life of Jean-Michel Basquiat which are currently on display as part of the exhibition, “Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure,” presented by the family of Jean-Michel Basquiat at RXR’s Starrett-Lehigh Building in West Chelsea New York.

Childhood artworks including newsletters from City-as-School, sketchbooks, doodles, cartoons. Notes and poems from throughout his life. Objects he collected. African artwork, artwork by Sam Doyle, a little known Black artist from South Carolina, and Allison Saar, one of contemporary art’s brightest stars..

Books about Michelangelo, Picasso, Matisse, African Art, the art of Cameroon, Black Hollywood. Magazines and comics. Old cameras. Videotapes. “Psycho,” “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “Apocalypse Now,” and also “Pretty in Pink,” “Beverly Hills Cop” and “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.”

The life of the late 20^th century’s most popular artist unfolds across 15,000-square-feet with stunning intimacy. The exhibition, conceived by his two sisters, Lisane Basquiat and Jeanine Heriveaux, and stepmother, Nora Fitzpatrick, presents more as a walk-through family scrapbook than hoity-toity art exhibition.

Thankfully.

“The intention (was) providing visitors a view of his personal items, including ephemera, photographs, records, etc.,” Lisane Basquiat told Forbes.com. “The display of these items reveals the deeper layers of who Jean-Michel was as a person, insight into some of what informed his creative process, and a glimpse at some of what he used as source material."

The photos–with Richard Pryor and Keith Haring and Debby Harry–as well as those with his parents and sisters, as well as those of Madonna and with Andy Warhol, the scraps of paper, the personal effects of this beloved and tragic figure nearly achieve the impossible: overshadowing the artwork.

Nearly.

All this stuff shares top billing with the artwork, astonishing paintings, drawings and sculptures from throughout his life.

A 41-foot-wide painting titled “Nu Nile” completed as one of two mural-sized works made for the Palladium nightclub in 1985. Amazingly, it’s the original.

Paintings of police violence. Paintings on scrapped wood. Paintings of Black celebrities. Paintings from his estate which is run by the sisters and have never before been seen publicly. Paintings worth untold hundreds of millions at auction.

This presentation, however, is not about Basquiat the celebrity. Basquiat the superstar artist. This exhibition, for the first time, in a manner which could only be shared by family, is about Basquiat the kid. Basquiat the teen. Basquiat the prankster. Basquiat the brother and son.

"The exhibition provides context to Jean-Michel's life that has been missing from the narrative,” Lisane Basquiat said. “(Visitors) will gain insight into aspects of his roots and childhood, including the opportunity to see a re-creation of rooms in his childhood home.”

And personal stories of the artist as told by those who knew him best.

How he taught Lisane to drink and hold her liquor when she was in high school so she wouldn’t be taken advantage of by boys at parties. The exhibition’s catalogue from Rizzoli Electra shares all of these unflinchingly candid recollections. It, too, thankfully reads more like a family photo album, short on text, long on photos, with essays and perspective not from academics, but Lisane and Jeanine and Nora and friends of the artist.

The humanity of Jean-Michel Basquiat shines through in a way none of the hundreds of other exhibitions of his artwork since his death in 1988 due to a heroin overdose have–or could.

Remembrances of being informed of his death are shared. How Jeanine was told by their father over the phone. Nora Fitzpatrick remembers he died on a Friday. She remembers identifying Jean-Michel’s body at the medical examiner’s office because his father couldn’t bear the task.

While not shying away from the circumstances of his death, “King Pleasure” is a celebration of his life. A reminder of how young he was, his baby face making him appear even younger. He was just 23, 24, 25-years-old when he began traveling the world, earning hundreds of thousands of dollars for his paintings, meeting celebrities, partying at nightclubs, becoming friends with Andy Warhol.

Of the amazing details of Basquiat’s life revealed in the exhibition are how Warhol created screen print portraits of Basquiat’s father, mother and sister Jeanine in 1986. The three artworks are included in the show.

As is an invitation to a private lunch following Andy Warhol’s funeral mass in 1987.

Spine-tingling.

The exhibition’s highlight, however, proves to be a stunning recreation of the artist’s 57 Great Jones Street Studio from 1983 which includes paintings, drawings, sketches, personal effects, his furniture, videotape and book collections.

It’s as close to a studio visit with Jean-Michel Basquiat as the world will now ever receive.

How was this space reproduced with such extraordinary detail, near spooky in its likeness?

"Well, we were there is how we knew,” Lisane Basquiat explains. “We also used photographs to help us fill in some of the details that we'd forgotten. Our goal was to provide an immersive experience where the visitor has insight into a moment in time within Jean-Michel's life."

The studio recreation further includes Basquiat’s bicycle, his main method of transportation around the city since he had trouble successfully hailing cabs as a Black man.

“King Pleasure” centers Jean-Michel Basquiat the man, not the icon, and in doing so deepens the appreciation for an artist already among the handful of most appreciated in history, a peer of those artists whose biographies feature in his book collection.

Basquiat has now been gone much longer than the 27 short years of his life. Popular interest in him, however, continues to increase.

"Jean-Michel was a brilliant artist and someone who openly reflected his position on cultural, racial and political issues,” Lisane said of her brother and his artwork’s ability to continue reaching people. “Our society continues to grapple with many of the issues that he opined on through his social narrative. His is also an incredibly inspiring story about what can happen when you set out to make something happen and walk that journey by any means necessary."

Basquiat–the man, the myth, the mystique, the art, the face–has transcended art world notoriety the way scant few artists ever do, his image and iconic crown symbol now firmly fixed in the broader culture.

“I am sure that a hundred years from now and even beyond, people will still be astounded by his work.”

The closing line of one more remarkable artifact shared in “King Pleasure,” a copy of the eulogy read by art dealer Jeffrey Deitch at Basquiat’s funeral, August 17, 1988.

The exhibition will be on view through Labor Day with hopes for an extension.

Elsewhere in New York

“King Pleasure” isn’t the only Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibition on view in New York currently, Nahmad Contemporary offers “Jean-Michel Basquiat: Art and Objecthood,” on view through June 11 as the the first presentation of his work dedicated to the role of found objects and unconventional materials.

This spring makes for a great time to view art across the city.

Faith Ringgold at the New Museum. Winslow Homer at The Met.

Sapar Contemporary takes audiences where most have never ventured during “Moods in the Meta,” an exhibition of Mongol Zurag painting from leading practitioner Uuriintuya Dagvasambuu through May 7.

Beginning April 28, Lehmann Maupin presents new work by New York City-based artist Nari Ward. Ward creates sculptures and installations composed from discarded material found and collected in his Harlem neighborhood, including repurposed objects such as baby strollers, shopping carts, bottles, keys, cash registers, and shoelaces, among other materials.

Hollis Taggart Gallery continues its necessary advocacy for Michael (Corinne) West, a first-generation Abstract Expressionist artist who should be much more widely known and acclaimed. An exhibition of her drawings can be seen from May 4 through May 27.

The European Fine Art Fair New York returns for the first time since 2019, May 6 through May 10, again providing enthusiasts, collectors, design professionals and museum curators one stop shopping at the Park Avenue Armory for the best of the best in modern and contemporary art, jewelry, antiques and design assembled by nearly 100 leading exhibitors from around the globe.

There’s even new art to see outside. Check out the 14 oversized sculptures (pictured above) welcoming New Yorkers and visitors entering the heart of Midtown Manhattan in the Garment District (located on Broadway between 38th and 41st Streets) created by artist Santi Flores.