#forthave

When I heard about the Basquiat exhibition at the Brant Foundation, I immediately went to the site only to see that every single time slot was mysteriously “sold out.” I don’t quite get the logic here, but basically you sign up for a wait list and then every once in a while I’d get an email being like “some tickets are available.” Finally, I snagged one for a Saturday afternoon, which was extremely convenient because every Saturday I go to my fave coffee shop on 7th st, and as the Brant’s NYC location is on 6th st (problematic, I’ll get to that later) this was guaranteed to be even more special than usual. (Side note: I also had to get some cappelletti for my folks from Astor, and inevitably left with a bottle of rosé and Forthave spirits “red” aperativo...oops.)

So, you get to the foundation, which is clearly very tony (and used to be a substation for ConEd before becoming Walter De Maria’s studio), and you take the elevator up to the 4th floor. 

It’s pretty spectacular, there’s this skylight/water feature that casts this cool glow over the gallery.  

The works at the top are mostly from ‘82 (as you descend floors, the years go to ‘87). The photos I took don’t do justice to the brightness of his colors. 

The curatorial choices were pretty interesting--on the top floor, the works were displayed in the traditional gallery style, allowing for the brightness of the skylight and floor to ceiling windows to let the works on paper pop.

The self-portrait above was one of my favorites. Again, the richness of the pigments in the pieces above and below don’t really translate, but they were so vibrant.

As you descend the building, the works get bigger, more political, and the way they are displayed changes. A lot of this also has to do with the way that Gluckman Tang Architects renovated the space. I think putting a bunch of Basquiats in a fancy reno’d building in the East Village is deeply ironic, but also, deeply telling of the priorities of the people who have moved into the neighborhood. 

Though I will say the building was just interesting to be in--entering the room below was pretty stunning. Not only did they fully utilize the height of the northern dividing wall (behind that wall was a tiny room with about 8 of his boxer-related works), but it was interesting to see what features of the original building were kept in place (look at the huge hook in the upper right hand corner, and the columns along the east and west walls). 

Here’s a detailed shot of that wall of canvases. I really liked the “cityscape” painting at the upper left corner; and it’s hard to miss the Warhol/Basquiat portrait on the lower right.

What’s so interesting about Basquiat’s work--and I say this as very much a “I don’t think I’m getting it!!!” patron of the arts--is exploring all the small details. There are multiple subjects, and repeated textual themes. He includes a lot of messages (some blatant, some more obscure) on all his works. 

The last room on the bottom floor had more experimental works. It was a very small room, but surprisingly quiet.

These pieces are in a room that looks out onto the courtyard, and is, of course, next to a gift shop. All the works were visually engaging (duh), but the smallness of this room with three large pieces felt a bit claustrophobic. I think this would’ve been a better space for the smaller works they had put in the back rooms on the 4th and 2nd floors.  

As you leave the building, you exit through a fancy courtyard onto 7th street. You can see the huge windows along the northern wall--they really do allow for a great view of the neighborhood, and I suppose if you live next to the courtyard it’s nice to have a quiet space to look upon, but I’m conflicted about the presence of this gallery. 

A free showing of Basquiat is a cool idea and I am glad I went, but this building is basically a warehouse for a rich person’s art collection. It is an apt embodiment of the creativity and changing socioeconomic demographics of the East Village/Alphabet City.

Martha Schwendener, writing for the Times, notes this tension as well, saying: “Perhaps one way private and public museums can work together is this: Private ones offer more opportunities to see work that has been highly (or over) valued, rather than stowing it away in free ports or elsewhere, while public institutions do the difficult, scholarly work we expect.” However this is becoming the trend and public museums still don’t have the funding to do the scholarly work, especially if collectors pour their capital into their own vanity projects.

I am genuinely curious what Basquiat would have to say about it all.