Jean-Michel Basquiat
Our Friend, Jean: Early Works By Jean-Michel Basquiat
October 21st - January 30th, 2022
527 W. 29th St. Remington, Baltimore MD
Works About
Works
About
For its inaugural exhibition, the Bishop Gallery is proud to present, “Our Friend, Jean” an exhibit featuring early works by Jean-Michel Basquiat. All artworks are on loan from a select group of collectors who knew him personally as collaborators, friends and lovers. More than 20 early works will be on display, including drawings, writings, apparel and mixed media collage, giving viewers a tiny but intimate look at Basquiat’ life prior to the fame. Collectors include Jane Diaz, Hilary Jaeger, Catherine Legnini, and Alexis Adler whom also serves as co-curator. The exhibition also includes ephemera and photography from Al Diaz, co-creator of SAMO with Basquiat.
“The rudiments of the visual language invented by Basquiat are in the two simple works loaned by friend and collector, Jane Diaz. His familiar raw, jagged line, the split-second connections he made, the humor” according to the 2020 Hyperallergic article written by collector Robert Becker. Jean created these works
while crashing at Jane’s apartment in the Lower East Side during the late 70’s. “What started off a casual chat bloomed into about a week of marathon nights, listening to music, endless conversation about art, about our futures, smoking pot, dancing to West-Side Story, sleeping together, drawing together and making art,” writes Jane. When Jean-Michel left, Jane “gathered up” most of the drawings he abandoned and threw them away, but held onto just two (2) pieces, “Little Monkey,” (1979) drawn with crayon and pasted with magazine cutouts, and a color Xerox of four small collages.
Collector, photographer and co-curator Alexis Adler serves as the anchor for “Our Friend, Jean”. From the works loaned by Alexis, which includes drawings, writings, Xerox, and painted clothing, you get a sense of Basquiat’s frenetic creative outpouring. Adler was Basquiat’s roommate, friend and ex-lover. The two had lived together in an East 12th Street tenement (which she still occupies) that Adler refers to as a “laboratory” for his artistic experiments - painting on anything and everything, playing with the layering of word and images. And when he eventually left, she boxed all he created, and hid them away. Decades later she would tour these works throughout museums both nationally and abroad. In addition to exhibiting her collection at premier institutions, Alexis also finds it imperative to share her collection with communities that’s reflective of her friend Jean’s cultural background. It was important to Adler to bring this exhibition to Baltimore as she saw first-hand the level of appreciation and diversity of “community visitors” showed during the “Our Friend Jean”, Brooklyn exhibition in Fall of 2019. “The enthusiasm shown by the young people and contemporary art lovers, warmed my heart. Never before have I shared stories about Jean with an audience that was so eager to listen” say Adler. Black communities as well as institutions of color seldom have access to original works by Basquiat and other prominent artist in general and The Bishop Gallery is adamant about changing that status quo. “Our Friend, Jean” will be on display through the end of January at The Bishop Gallery – Baltimore.
“The rudiments of the visual language invented by Basquiat are in the two simple works loaned by friend and collector, Jane Diaz. His familiar raw, jagged line, the split-second connections he made, the humor” according to the 2020 Hyperallergic article written by collector Robert Becker. Jean created these works
while crashing at Jane’s apartment in the Lower East Side during the late 70’s. “What started off a casual chat bloomed into about a week of marathon nights, listening to music, endless conversation about art, about our futures, smoking pot, dancing to West-Side Story, sleeping together, drawing together and making art,” writes Jane. When Jean-Michel left, Jane “gathered up” most of the drawings he abandoned and threw them away, but held onto just two (2) pieces, “Little Monkey,” (1979) drawn with crayon and pasted with magazine cutouts, and a color Xerox of four small collages.
Collector, photographer and co-curator Alexis Adler serves as the anchor for “Our Friend, Jean”. From the works loaned by Alexis, which includes drawings, writings, Xerox, and painted clothing, you get a sense of Basquiat’s frenetic creative outpouring. Adler was Basquiat’s roommate, friend and ex-lover. The two had lived together in an East 12th Street tenement (which she still occupies) that Adler refers to as a “laboratory” for his artistic experiments - painting on anything and everything, playing with the layering of word and images. And when he eventually left, she boxed all he created, and hid them away. Decades later she would tour these works throughout museums both nationally and abroad. In addition to exhibiting her collection at premier institutions, Alexis also finds it imperative to share her collection with communities that’s reflective of her friend Jean’s cultural background. It was important to Adler to bring this exhibition to Baltimore as she saw first-hand the level of appreciation and diversity of “community visitors” showed during the “Our Friend Jean”, Brooklyn exhibition in Fall of 2019. “The enthusiasm shown by the young people and contemporary art lovers, warmed my heart. Never before have I shared stories about Jean with an audience that was so eager to listen” say Adler. Black communities as well as institutions of color seldom have access to original works by Basquiat and other prominent artist in general and The Bishop Gallery is adamant about changing that status quo. “Our Friend, Jean” will be on display through the end of January at The Bishop Gallery – Baltimore.