The Lardner Report

Unleash your creative superpowers!

Basquiat: A Fresh Look At Genius

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(Pic #1) Basquiat fan “Jewelz” says he’s “not worthy” to stand by the painter’s work. He’s not alone.

Exploring the new exhibition called Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure  — curated by the younger sisters of Jean-Michel — practically made me dizzy.

There have been three times I’ve been rendered speechless —perhaps paralyzed—by coming face-to-face with artwork I’ve only seen in photographs: Seeing Henri Rousseau’s  “The Dream” at MOMA in New York as a teenager, bumping into a massive Cy Twombly at the Tate in London, and a series of Robert Rauschenberg combines at MOCA in Los Angeles.

But the current Basquiat show at The Grand in downtown LA completely consumed me — to the point of hyperventilating — like a cat on an unbearably hot day.

First, watching charming home movies taken by his parents when he was a toddler, getting up-close-and-personal with sketches that preceded his now iconic painterly pieces, and then walking through a reproduction of his studio in NYC back in the eighties — well, brought me closer to someone I thought I knew.

I HAD to know what was collage, what was paint. I used two pairs of reading glasses to determine the kind of oil stick or paint pens he used to make his classic childlike markings. Were those images slapped onto the canvas really xeroxes?  Was there another painting underneath? What are the words he crossed out? And how is it I’m willing to unravel his series of puzzles?

There are so many lessons for us in Basquiat’s work. First, he’d paint on virtually anything. Doors, friends’ apartments, fences, appliances, public walls.  He was fearless, and probably one of the most innovative artists of our time.  When he had to express a thought there was no hesitation. His spontaneity led to hundreds of modern masterpieces, and each one more exciting than the other.

Obsessed? Yes. Grateful? Yes. What a gift — that his work can be shared with us, and even decades after his death, we can celebrate his impact on art, culture and society.

Highly recommended — Show extended through October 15th. Website: https://kingpleasure.basquiat.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Unexpected Art in Urban Decay

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(Pic #1) Brooklyn surprise. Weathered wall and signage —  instant abstraction.

It’s a legal high I can’t fully explain. While I’ve had the opportunity to visit some of the most extraordinary museums all over the world, there’s nothing like discovering an exciting image on weathered urban walls, sidewalks, or curbs. There’s something I love about “unintended” art — the kind that appears with age or years of neglect.

(Pic #2) One of  Jackson Pollock’s early  1950s “Black paintings.”

The above “painting” I suspect started out as a parking sign glued to the building in historic Red Hook, Brooklyn. The white curvy lines would be where the glue was placed. What makes this work for me is the contrasting background colors of dark blue and black. Also, that the unpainted top beige strip appears inside the painting as well. It’s almost as if the whole thing was planned.

The next place my brain visits is my mental catalogue of key images in art history. Truth is, I don’t need to liken one decrepit old wall with a legit artist — but it just happens in my head. It just might be a way to “justify” my find.

In this case, I took a deep dive back into the work of abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock, who made a series of black-and-white paintings before he became known for his multi-colored “action” or “drip” works.

The lesson, each time I explore the streets of any urban landscape, is that art is in fact, everywhere.

Banksy — Forever Stamped

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(Pic #1) A Banksy mural metaphorically slamming Putin and the Russian Federation

The work of mysterious British muralist “Banksy” now joins the virtual time capsule of images created by artists chronicling the war in Ukraine. The recent work by the iconic street artist is being immortalized by “Ukrposhta” — the Ukrainian National Post Office — as a 2023 postage stamp. The release marks the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion.

The image depicted on the Banksy stamp is a photograph of a mural he painted in the city of Borodyanka. (Pic #1) “A little boy who knocks out a grown man is an allegorical image – this is the struggle of Ukraine against the Russian Federation,” the Ukrainian postal service said.  In the picture, a young boy uses the art of Judo to flip the man, and it is well-known that Mr. Putin has passion for Martial Arts, and has reportedly earned a black belt.  The illustration is accompanied by six Cyrillic letters that stand as a not-so-veiled shorthand for “Putin, go fuck yourself.”

(Pic #2) The grand flip-off by a Ukrainian soldier to a Russian Warship (Postage stamp)

George Orwell once quipped that “every joke is a tiny revolution.” Ukrainians are proof positive of this premise, as Ukrposhta has now printed more than 30 politically-charged images painted by Ukrainian artists. Many believe  comedy — and irreverence — is the country’s way of coping with unfathomable trauma. One local comedian interviewed by Associated Press suggests simply that they are “using humor as a weapon to keep spirits up.”

On another stamp, (Pic #2) you see a Russian warship approaching a group of Ukrainian border guards on Snake Island in the Black Sea, ordering Ukraine’s surrender. The guards responded — while flipping the bird —“Hey, Russian warship, go fuck yourself.”

Are you seeing a pattern here?