ANDY

&

BASQUIAT

Meeting for the first time in 1979, Jean-Michel had approached Andy at the W.P.A in Manhattan. He happened to be sitting with the art curator Henry Geldzahler, who ignored his art saying Basquiat was ‘too young’. Andy on the other hand thought his work was great and bought the postcard of Jean-Michels art for the whopping price of $1. 

Being introduced again in October of 1982, to each other by Bruno Bischofberger, the two sat down for lunch, clicking almost instantly with each other. During this time, Warhol had taken a portrait of them on his handy-dandy polaroid camera. ‘He went home and within two hours a painting was back, still wet, of him and me together. And I mean, just getting to Christie Street must have taken an hour. He told me his assistant painted it.’, Andy writes, referring to the painting titled ‘Dos Cabezas’ by Basquiat. The two became almost inseparable in a way no one really understood. Living in Andys lower Manhattan building, Jean-Michel found himself not only an art studio but a home and a companionship that he'd cherish for life. They'd end up doing almost everything and anything together, working out and painting together in the studio, Jean-michele posed for the camera in an intimate shoot for Andy's series. ‘A physical conversation happening in paint instead of words. The sense of humor, the snide remarks, the profound realizations, the simple chit-chat all happened with paint and brushes.’, says the artist and good friend of the two, Keith Haring, also saying the two ‘Inspired each other to out do the next’.

The collaboration between the two sort of shocked people. The twos individual work was very different, Andy being a leading artist of the 1960’s pop art movement, a lot of his work consisted of mass produced commercial goods, for instance, Campbells soup and the Ford truck symbol. It was actually Basquiat who got him interested in doing paintings by hand again, before then he had been using a mechanical screen press process for 20 years. Andy also painted portraits as well as photographed them and had even made a few films.  Basquiat's work on the other hand consisted of spray painted drawings and scribbled words often spaced out in between letters, dealing a lot with pop-culture, racism and class issues, political issues while also incorporating his heritage and culture. The two collaborating together and being as close as they were, led people to believe the young artist, Jean-Michel was being exploited and a “mascot”. Which I believe is far from the truth.

Jean-Michel had always been in awe of Warhol's work, hence why when he saw him entering the W.P.A restaurant, he followed after. There was also a sense of awe for Andy in the sort of ease Basquiat held, he painted so effortlessly, drawing on almost anything and everything. The two just admired each other, it was obvious. Even during the times where Jean-Michel had been struggling with his identity, falling into drugs and his fame, Andy was always the one who led him to stick with his art. Who kind of pulled him up from wherever he fell. And it is odd considering the personality of Warhol, a seemingly careless man. But Andy and Jean-Michele, they just, it seems like they kinda just knew, whatever sentence that was said, whatever color paint that was used, they knew and they knew why. Quite literally dos cabezas. ‘Jean-Michel came over to the office to paint but he fell asleep on the floor, he looked like a bum laying there, but I woke him up and he did two masterpieces that were great.’, Warhol wrote in late 1984.

In the Autumn of 1985, Warhol and Basquait showed 16 different pieces of their work together at a downtown gallery show. While this ended up being one of the greatest art events of the 1980’s, it would drastically change the friendship of the two. Receiving harsh reviews continuing the feed into the rumor and Basquiat being Andy's mascot, their collaboration came to an end. Their friendship soon followed. Warhol was able to brush it all off, Basquait was not able to as easily and soon would stop calling his fellow friend leading to a long distance between the two. Their friendship never fully recovered. Warhol passed suddenly and unexpectedly in February of 1987. Just 18 months later, Basquait would also pass away from a drug overdose.

The relationship that these two held was a different type of intimacy. When Warhol died, I don't think jean-Michel was able to fully understand it, already struggling with a drug issue, there was no one there who was able to pull him out of that the way Andy would. The work the two had made together absolutely left a mark, two artists who had never been seen or heard as they should have been. The friendship they had interests me the most, the level of intimacy, the awareness of each other's abilities, the compassion. Peeking into the relationship of the two, it almost makes me feel like I'm a child again. I wonder if they ever felt like little boys together, just painting away the days continuing a never ending conversation.     

PIECES MADE TOGETHER