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Property from a Private Swiss CollectionΟ17Jean-Michel BasquiatUntitled (Pestus)acrylic and oilstick on paper 114.3 x 182.8 cm (45 x 71 7/8 in.) Executed in 1982, this work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from the Authentication Committee of the Estate of Jean-Michel-Basquiat. Full CataloguingEstimate £2,000,000 - 3,000,000 ‡ Place Advance BidContact Specialist Kate Bryan Specialist, Head of Evening Sale +44 20 7318 4026 kbryan@phillips.com
OverviewIn what subsequently became an iconic exchange between the American curator Henry Geldzadhler and the artist Jean-Michel-Basquiat, the young, prodigious painter once declared that the three themes overarching his artistic intention were ‘royalty, heroism, and the streets’.i Created in Basquiat’s milestone year of 1982, Untitled (Pestus) brilliantly encapsulates this threefold vision. At the top of the composition, the titular word ‘PESTUS’ hovers over a black housing project, and is surrounded by the sporadic appearance of expressions like ‘ASPHALT’, ‘SULPHATES’, and ‘BALTIC AVE’. Combining this distinctly urban vernacular with more idiosyncratic subjects, the work explores Basquiat’s proximity to the streets, which hosted the beginning of his career in New York City. This theme in turn reveals a natural implication of royalty and heroism, as arrows, waves, and other signs infer a movement from the bottom up, at once linguistically, iconographically, and socially; a suggested ascension that also appears in the artist’s animated work on paper Untitled (Plaid), a masterpiece of the same year residing in the Whitney Museum of American Art. With its invigorating strokes of turquoise, red, green, pink and black, and its serendipitous arrangement of writing and visual symbols, Untitled (Pestus) offers a vitalising glimpse into Basquiat’s draughtsmanship at the height of his creative powers. Jean-Michel-Basquiat, Untitled (Plaid), 1982, oil paintstick and ballpaper on paper, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. © The Estate of Jean-Michel-Basquiat / ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2020. Image: Adagp Images, Paris, / SCALA, Florence. Prior to 1982 – a breakthrough year marking the beginning of Basquiat’s intimate mythologies – the artist spent the majority of his time in New York’s Lower East Side, producing graffiti under the moniker SAMO (a shorthand for his derisive motto ‘same old shit’). During this period, the artist shared a partnership with his friend Al Diaz, with whom he brandished anti-establishment messages regarding race, identity and commercialism on inner city buildings. These concerns remained alive as ever in Basquiat’s early independent work, developed at the dawn of the 1980s; in the present image, the artist clearly continues to deal with subjects of urban poverty, mass commodity, and the lack of resources employed to fix faulty – and dangerous – structures in low-income neighbourhoods. With its clear, horizontal structure and its neatly delineated painterly elements, Untitled (Pestus) epitomises Basquiat’s perennial visual language, which, like all the best of his work, encapsulates the crux of his life observations: his childhood fascinations, his adolescent discoveries and his encounters with cultural disparities and convergences in young adulthood. Shortly before the execution of the present work, Basquiat’s art began garnering a number of critical accolades, including an invitation to participate in the landmark show New York/New Wave, which took place at the MoMA PS1 in February 1981, and congregated such influential artists as Keith Haring Robert Mapplethorpe Kenny Scharf and Andy Warhol From that moment onward, ‘All hell broke loose’, observed Richard Marshall. ‘The young master was ready’.ii A result of newfound resources and increased artistic confidence, Untitled (Pestus) was painted a year after Basquiat had achieved cult status in the streets, and coincides with his progressive shift to gallery premises, enabled by the support of his new dealer Annina Nosei. At the mere age of 22, Basquiat impressed contemporary art critics with his natural flair, and cemented his status as New York’s ‘Radiant Child’ – a title coined by Rene Ricard in the American poet’s seminal Artforum article of 1981. Ben Buchanan, Jean-Michel-Basquiat in front of his window, 1985, black and white photograph. Image: Bridgeman Images. A Duality in Composition Untitled (Pestus) contains a number of symbols and expression