Jean-Michel Basquiat: Made On Market Street

Jean-Michel Basquiat: Made on Market Street chronicles Jean-Michel Basquiat’s time spent living in Los Angeles—a city that indelibly influenced his work. Featuring almost thirty artworks, an interview with Basquiat’s friends and family, an essay by Fred Hoffman, and a selection of archival material, this catalogue captures a time of profound creative growth for the artist.

Jean-Michel Basquiat: Made on Market Street is the first exhibition catalogue exclusively devoted to the work Basquiat created in Los Angeles. The exhibition, curated by art historian and publisher, Fred Hoffman, includes almost thirty works made between 1982 and 1984. It centers upon three exhibitions the famed Neo-Expressionist held at Larry Gagosian Gallery in Los Angeles in 1982, 1983, and 1986.

A conversation between Larry Gagosian, filmmaker, Tamra Davis, Hoffman, and the artist’s sisters, Lisane Basquiat and Jeanine Heriveaux, considers the revival of the LA music scene in the 1980s, Basquiat’s experimentation with editioned works, and the artist’s struggle to gain acceptance from traditional art institutions. 

Hoffman hones in on several of Basquiat’s works made in LA in a 5-part essay, recounting the artist’s use of new materials pulled from his immediate environment and invocation of “something psycho-spiritual—a liberation from the confines of one’s worldly experience.” Fusing anecdotes from his time in Basquiat’s studio with formal analysis, Hoffman unpacks the complex and varied symbolism that permeated the artist’s oeuvre. An extensive selection of documentary material, ephemera, and never-before-published photographs provide a highly personal view of the storied artist.