MEMORY SHRINE
ARTIST STATEMENT
I constructed my shrine of the iconic artist Jean-Michel Basquiat as an abandoned building, containing recreations of random elements from his works. This shrine focuses on memorializing Basquiat’s origins and beginnings; he was living in a New York full of drugs, spray painting graffiti on buildings in Lower Manhattan. The “building” is run down, and pieces of his art are sprawled across the walls like the street art he created at the very beginning, in 1976. I recreated one of his self-portraits, which stands on the floor while other elements of his work float, such as the iconic crown and an eye styled similarly in many of his face renderings.
Elegy
“Everyday it’s the same old shit but prince of Prince Street, you are electric. Bc icons never die.”
“same old shit” refers to the pseudonym “SAMO” that Basquiat and his friend Al Diaz first began spray painting under. “prince of Prince Street” refers to the location of the gallery of Annina Nosei, Basquiat’s first art dealer, and because he was known for working in SoHo and the East Village. Just a few months ago in late May, “Untitled” from 1982 sold for over $110 million, which set a new record for American art. Though Basquiat has been dead for almost 30 years, his work does not cease to be legendary. He is an icon of American art, and his eccentricity and vibrancy will never die out.
