This is the belated first post about my trip to New York. We came across this exhibit while walking to the Guggenheim Museum while it was closed. Why were we going to a closed Guggenheim? Because I wasn't paying attention, and who doesn't love a freezing cold walk in the rain up 5th Ave.? A friend on the phone had just mentioned how much she loved Basquiat a few minutes before. Then I saw the sign above. A small Pakistani man invited us inside, for free, and we gladly accepted. The exhibit was worth it, and not just because it gave us a chance to warm up and dry off. It was a spectacular collection of drawings and paintings, only a few of which I had seen before, and none that I had seen in any other exhibition.

Unfortunately, many of these photos (like the one above) also have me in them. I couldn't use a flash, of course, and it wouldn't have helped anyway since I didn't have a polarizer to get rid of the reflections in the glass. Sorry about the quality. But at least I got a picture with Basquiat, right?

See the whole set at my Flickr page.

If you have never heard of Jean-Michel Basquiat, here's the brief story:
Born December 22nd 1960. Died August 12 1988 in his studio from mixing cocaine and heroin. Probably a lot. He started his art career as a graffitist in Manhattan. His tag was "SAMO." The art world took notice. He became friends with Andy Warhol in 1982, and the two worked together on projects. Lars Ulrich of Metallica sold one of Basquiat's paintings at auction for over five and a half million dollars.

Read more about Basquiat at Wikipedia.

Labels: Arty, Basquiat, Travel