Antar 1985

Jean-Michel Basquiat made this painting, "Antar," with acrylic and oil stick. It's wild, right? Just bursting with energy! I can imagine Basquiat, layering image upon image in this painting, figuring out how to create a visual language all of his own. Look at that bold blue background and how it pushes everything forward. And the figures! Are they floating, or are they pinned to the surface? I love the confident strokes of color, the crude figures, and the use of symbols that seem to pop up everywhere in his work. That head on the right, painted in thick white lines, has a kind of mask-like quality. It reminds me of Picasso but also of street art, and how both have influenced Basquiat's approach to painting. You get a sense of this conversation with artists across time. It's all mixed up here, like a beautiful mess. This painting invites us to see the world through Basquiat's eyes, in all its messy, chaotic glory.