Campaign 1984

Editor: We are looking at Jean-Michel Basquiat’s "Campaign" from 1984, executed in acrylic on canvas. My first impression is the painting has a frenetic energy with its layering of imagery and text. What is your initial analysis of the work? Curator: My focus goes directly to the complex interplay between text and image. Notice how Basquiat integrates words directly into the pictorial space. What kind of relationships can you find? Editor: Well, "Tobacco" is emblazoned above an image resembling an advertisement...then there are scattered words throughout: "Black"... Are these random insertions, or is Basquiat creating deliberate relationships? Curator: Deliberate, indeed. Consider how the juxtaposition of these elements contributes to the painting’s overall structure. The circular "Tobacco" logo is in sharp contrast to the expressionistic figures below. Can you detect some formal qualities such as line and color that weave them together? Editor: Yes, I notice the crude brushstrokes are applied liberally. There's yellow connecting elements across the canvas… Is that part of the semiotic meaning as well, or mainly formal? Curator: I posit that, with Basquiat, one never eclipses the other. How would you unpack the meaning encoded within the composition by just the sum of its visual components? Editor: Interesting… focusing on formal components really helps distill some threads to untangle this work! Curator: Precisely. By emphasizing these relationships of line, color, texture and imagery we arrive at an understanding of Basquiat's intention. Editor: I can see how approaching the painting from a purely formal perspective helps reveal its organizational logic.