ART CITIES:N.York-Basquiat’s Defacement The Untold Story

Michael Jerome Stewart was beaten to death following his arrest by New York City Transit Police for spray-painting graffiti on a New York City Subway wall at the First Avenue station. in September 1983.His treatment while in police custody and the ensuing trials of the arresting officers sparked debate concerning police brutality and the responsibilities of arresting officials in handling suspects.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Guggenheim Museum Archive

The exhibition “Basquiat’s “Defacement”: The Untold Story” is a focused, thematic exhibition of work by Jean-Michel Basquiat supplemented with work by others of his generation, and explorez a formative chapter in the artist’s career through the lens of his identity and the role of cultural activism in New York City during the early 1980s. The exhibition takes as its starting point the painting “The Death of Michael Stewart” informally known as “Defacement” created by Basquiat in 1983 to commemorate the fate of Michael Stewart. Originally painted on the wall of Keith Haring’s studio, Keith had it cut out of the wall and framed, it was above his bed for seven years until he died, and then from there it was left to the collector who owns it now. With approximately 20 paintings and works on paper by Basquiat and his contemporaries, this presentation examines Basquiat’s exploration of black identity, his protest against police brutality, and his attempts to craft a singular aesthetic language of empowerment. The works on view by Basquiat further illustrate his engagement with state authority as well as demonstrate his adaptation of crowns as symbols for the canonization of historical black figures. Also featured are archival material related to Stewart’s death, including Keith Haring’s diary and protest posters, along with samples of artwork from Stewart’s estate. Paintings and prints made by other artists in response to Stewart’s death and the subsequent criminal trial of the police officers charged in his death to be presented include Haring’s “Michael Stewart—U.S.A. for Africa” (1985); Andy Warhol’s screenprinted “headline” painting from 1983 incorporating a New York Daily News article on Stewart’s death; David Hammons’s stenciled print titled “The Man Nobody Killed” (1986), George Condo’s “Portrait of Michael Stewart” (1983) and Lyle Ashton Harris’s photographic portrait “Saint Michael Stewart” (1994), all of which are testaments to the solidarity among artists at the time and the following years.

Info: Curator: Chaédria LaBouvier, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 5th Avenue, New York, Duration: 21/6-6/11/19, Days & Hours: Mon, Wed-Fri & Sun 10:00-17:30, Tue 10:00-21:00, Sat 10:00-20:00, www.guggenheim.org