"Jean-Michel Basquiat," a terrific exhibit at the brand new Brant Foundation welcomed me back to New York's incredible art scene, past and present. I made reservations months ago.
A former Con Ed power plant on the Lower East Side, Basquiat's old hood, houses the foundation. It makes for great gallery space.
Basquiat was besties with Andy.
Apparently he also had a thing for boxers. Benedict Cumberbatch was among the visitors in the small room dedicated to them. You don't see celebrities out and about in Lake Worth!
Magda & Joe sent me a Uniqlo t-shirt with a dinosaur wearing a Basquiat crown like this one. In an odd coincidence, I once served on a jury in a civil court case in which Basquiat's estate sued Uniqlo. It was about money, not art, so I barely can remember the details.
The artists also said "The only movement is perpetual movement." A retrospective of Picabia's ever-changing work at MoMA offers an exhilarating ride through the first half of the 20th century and cements his protean reputation as the wise-guy of modern art.
He began as an Impressionist in the early 1900s,
earning the scorn of his more established peers because he sometimes painted from postcards instead of real life,
In 1924, Picabia collaborated with Rene Clair on "Entr'acte," a beautiful and funny surrealistic film that runs nearly half an hour. It's occasionally pervy, too.
You have to love the mourners dancing behind an edible hearse drawn by a camel through the streets of Paris.
A notorious playboy, half-Cuban and French, Picabia adored women.
