Details — Click to read
“Superhero Portfolio” is a compilation of four hand-pulled screen prints on paper, created by the legendary neo-expressionist artist Jean-Michel Basquiat from 1982-1987, and released in a limited edition run of 85 by the artist’s estate in 2022. The four pieces are tied to one another by their unique depictions of various classic American superheros, from Batman, to The Flash. Characteristically cryptic in meaning, these pieces subtly reveal a great amount about the iconic artist’s internal world and psyche, while retaining the inscrutable and enigmatic charisma that is so distinctively Basquiat. Across the four pieces, the artist’s hand-scrawled messages, whimsical illustrations, youthful palette, and haphazard formal nature serve as through-lines. Loose grids, lattices, dots, and scribbles delineate textures and planes, while idiosyncratic characters (many of whom being superheroes), rupture and expand accepted tradition in figurative art. Each of the four pieces that make up Basquiat’s “Superhero Portfolio” is a singular world of its own, with distinct iconography, peculiar forms, and delicate, deliberate minutiae to uncover and unravel. Together, they display an artist making a precise thematic investigation in his own unparalleled manner. The limited edition screen prints each measure 40 inches tall by 40 inches, and are signed, stamped, and authenticated by the Executor of the Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat.
To see more of Basquiat’s work at Taglialatella Galleries, visit https://www.taglialatellagalleries.com/artists/jean-michel-basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat is one of the most famous artists of the twentieth century. His dramatic life and iconic works of art—featuring obsessive scribbling, text, enigmatic symbols, diagrams, skulls, masks, and the artist’s trademark crown—have made his visual vocabulary instantly recognizable. In 1978 Basquiat began his artistic career as a graffiti sprayer in the streets of New York, tagging all of his works “SAMO,” which stands for “same old shit.” He earned a living by selling painted postcards and T-shirts, and making assemblages from scrap metal. He soon attracted the attention of the New York street art scene, and went on to inspire Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, and other prominent urban artists of the late twentieth century. Pop Art founder Andy Warhol was Basquiat’s mentor and friend, and he helped the young artist navigate the 1980s art world. Basquiat frequently drew inspiration from his Caribbean heritage; a convergence of African American, African, and Aztec cultural histories; classical themes; and figures of pop culture including athletes and musicians. The immediacy and intellectual depth of his paintings won him widespread acclaim during his lifetime. Since his untimely death at the age of 27, the importance of Basquiat’s work, both in terms of both financial worth and historical relevance, has increased exponentially. His blue chip works of art frequently set auction records. In 2017, Basquiat’s Untitled (1982) sold for $110.5 million and became the most expensive artwork by an American artist to ever be sold. Basquiat’s paintings now belong in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, among others.
