Detail
Jean-Michel Basquiat 1960-1988
Further images
M, based on a panel painting created in Basquiat’s Venice, California studio in 1984, belongs to the same body of work as Gold Griot and Flexible, both painted that same year. These works reflect Basquiat’s enduring depiction of the figure of the griot, the West African storyteller and keeper of communal memory – particularly interesting as his artworks, saturated in cultural and historical images and references, are often vessels for such histories themselves. This powerful image is rendered with Basquiat’s signature energetic brush strokes and sense of balance to define one of the artist’s most compelling and iconic figures.