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Lot 13

JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT
(1960-1988)
Cop Guy
1978

16 November 2022, 17:00 EST
New York

US$70,000 - US$100,000

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JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)

Cop Guy
1978

inscribed Cop Guy on the reverse
ink on paper

9 by 12 in.
22.9 by 30.5 cm.

This work was executed in 1978.

Footnotes

Provenance
Verj Baghooman Gallery, New York
Galerie Jerome de Noirmont, Paris
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Exhibited
New York, Verj Baghooman Gallery, Jean-Michel Basquiat, 21 October-25 November 1989, no. 44, n.p., illustrated in color
Paris, Fondation Dina Vierny, Musée Maillol, Jean-Michel Basquiat: oeuvres sur papier, 1997, p. 27, illustrated in color
Paris, Galerie Jerome de Noirmont, Jean-Michel Basquiat: Temoignage 1977-1988, 1998, pp. 20-21, illustrated in color

The quintessential figure of 1980's downtown New York and contemporary art at large, Basquiat married text and image with both abstraction and figuration to create his distinct visual language. Achieving stardom at a young age, his fame continues to burgeon far past his departure.

A comment on the incompatibility of blind authority and individuality, the present work, Cop Guy, portrays a grotesque police head, warped to the point of dehumanization with the phrase "Give me that !!@*" 18 years old at the time of the work, Cop Guy is undoubtedly an illustration of real life events, yet also depicting the timeless oppositional forces between a young graffiti artist and the law.

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