Il Duce 1982

Jean-Michel Basquiat made this painting, Il Duce, with oil stick and paint. I see tan brushstrokes laid down like a ground, and on top of that an aggressive figure emerges. Imagine Basquiat working, attacking the canvas, his mind racing with ideas, like Cy Twombly, or maybe Picasso, but his own voice cuts through. I see the raw energy in those thick black lines outlining the head, and the jagged teeth screaming out. There's this tension between the surface and what’s being depicted, a dialogue between the formal qualities of painting and the subject matter. It’s like the paint itself is a character, pushing back against the figure. The yellow horizontal slash at the bottom is particularly interesting to me. It doesn’t quite make sense, but it adds another layer of complexity, disrupting any easy reading of the image. It reminds me that painting isn't just about representation; it’s about thinking through materials, marks, and gestures.