Everyone Wants a Bit of Basquiat

Shoes. T-shirts. Tote bags. Hand bags. Bum bags. Backpacks. Umbrellas. Phone cases. AirPod cases. Laptop cases. Charging banks. Charging pads. Watch straps. Eyeshadow palettes. Skimboards. Skateboards. Sweater vests. These are some of the many products you can now buy emblazoned with iconic prints from the late Basquiat, who was famous for his don’t-care attitude to art world snobbery, and the attached faucets of capitalism and consumerism that come with it.

The brands promoting said products range from high-street to luxury, and while their engagement with the artist brings attention to his legacy, their motives seem suspiciously financial. Basquiat’s whole ideology is funky, innovative, and unafraid to pack a punch. His style has been described as “graphomanic”, and he’s credited as being one of the earliest graffiti artists whose work found itself crossing into the fine art domain, with art dealers and gallery exhibitioners approaching him even during the short 10-year span that he was artistically active for. His work inspired generations of others, in terms of ethics and attitude as well as colour, style and medium.

Earlier this summer marked the 33rd anniversary of the young artist’s death, and I for one have been noticing a surge of products covered with prints of his work. Doc Martens are selling shoes printed with a painting of his that sold for 110.5 million dollars in auction in 2017, and Uniqlo are slapping his ‘Skull, 1981’ and ‘Pez Dispenser’ dinosaur on t-shirts as part of a graphic art collection also featuring Andy Warhol and Keith Haring, who were close acquaintances of his. Here's the kick: Basquiat would probably have hated these endorsements. The products are all announced in collaboration with the American artist, with taglines that label them ‘tributes’ without a hint of irony. The world was Basquiat’s canvas, and a key aspect that separated him from the crowd was his painting of everything and anything that didn’t necessarily resemble a canvas, and didn’t necessarily belong to him either. The counter-argument is that Basquiat would have lapped this all up - after all, isn’t it an extension of his whole ‘painting-on-anything-to-hand’, ‘making-his-mark’ thing?

Pop culture had already seen Basquiat’s artwork affiliated with music, with Rammellzee vs. K-Rob’s 1983 track ‘Beat Bop’, which he produced and directed on his own label, complete with cover design. His work was again attached to music in April 2020, when The Strokes used his 1981 painting ‘Bird on Money’ for their album ‘The New Abnormal’ for its references to the late jazz musician Charlie Parker, one of the musical artists Basquiat most admired.

The latest in Basquiat-news is Tiffany & Co.’s use of a painting of his titled ‘Equals Pi’ from 1982 in their newest advertisement, with Beyoncé and Jay-Z snapped looking swanky and serious in the foreground. The painting hasn’t been seen much, except in a photograph from a 2018 article that took a look inside the Sabbadini Family household - another luxury jewellery name. Controversy flooded in from the onset of the advert’s release, due to the commodification of Basquiat’s name, which is happening at ridiculous rates. Whilst a successful artist even in his lifetime, Basquiat faced prejudice, and as his ex-studio assistant puts, “They wouldn’t have let Jean-Michel into a Tiffany’s if he wanted to use the bathroom or if he went to buy an engagement ring and pulled a wad of cash out of his pocket.” To put it simply, it's a bit rich (excuse the pun) from Tiffany’s to capitalise on his name and reputation like that for profit, when his image deviates so far from theirs as a brand.

Despite no evidence, the painting in question is a suspiciously-specific shade of Tiffany Blue, cultivating questions that it was intentionally a nod to the New York-based jewellery giant. Either way, the painting now has a permanent home in Tiffany’s main store. People were unhappy with how Basquiat’s art was being experienced because of its high value and large percentage of independent ownership. At least thanks to Tiffany’s, ‘Equals Pi’ is arguably more accessible to the general public than it was before.

In Jennifer Clement’s memoir ‘Widow Basquiat’, Jean-Michel’s former girlfriend and muse Suzanne Mollouk is recorded: “Everything he did was an attack on racism and I loved him for this.” She recalls how his appearance meant he could never hail a taxi, and was always underestimated in expensive environments, however his anti-establishment actions afforded him a reputation as a badass with a big heart and a desire to change the world. Writer and critic Olivia Laing kicks off a recent collection of her essays with a piece that tracks Basquiat’s artistic journey. After circling around the circumstances of his life for eight pages she arrives at the conclusion: “He’a a cash cow, just as he predicted, making rich white people richer.” I suppose that fundamentally she’s right.

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