Jean-Michel Basquiat, The Death of Michael Stewart (Defacement), 1983.
ECFA’s recent visit to New York led to a poignant and topical exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum entitled Basquiat’s “Defacement”: The Untold Story. Guest curator Chaédria LaBouvier has organized the show around The Death of Michael Stewart, a 1983 painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat also known as Defacement. The painting, pictured above, documents the brutal death of fellow street artist, Michael Stewart at the hands of New York City police officers. Basquiat’s point-blank delivery and emotional storytelling is supported by his peers’ responses to Stewart’s death: George Condo’s Portrait of Michael Stewart, also from 1983, appears in the exhibition along with Keith Haring’s nightmarish Michael Stewart – USA for Africa.
Basquiat’s “Defacement”: The Untold Story will be on view through November 6th.
