Basquiat: The Modena Paintings

Basquiat: The Modena Paintings

Edited by Iris Hasler, Sam Keller. Text by Dieter Buchhart, Iris Hasler, Fiona Hesse, Michiko Kono, Regula Moser, Demetrio Paparoni, Jordana Saggese.

Reuniting eight key Basquiat works that mark the graffiti artist's transition to painterly autonomy

This catalog focuses on eight paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat made in the summer of 1982, when he traveled to Modena, Italy, for one of his first solo exhibitions in Europe at the gallery of Emilio Mazzoli. Within the span of just a few days, Basquiat painted a group of large-format paintings that surpassed his previous work in both scale and method. Each measuring around 6.5 by 13 feet, these works mark Basquiat's transition from creating graffiti in the streets of Manhattan to painting on canvas. The conception and occasion of the exhibition ultimately proved fraught, and instead of conceding to...

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