Travelling the world with Jean-Michel Basquiat
- Text by Miss Rosen
- Photography by Lee Jaffe (main image)
In July 1983, cross-disciplinary artist, musician, and poet Lee Jaffe met Jean-Michel Basquiat at an exhibition opening at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. “He was very charismatic. The way he looked and moved just lit up a room,” remembers Jaffe, who had been a member of Bob Marley’s band during the mid-’70s.
While chatting, Basquiat learned Jaffe had produced Peter Tosh’s 1976 album Legalize It – a record the young painter loved so much that he had worn out the grooves on the vinyl. “We had this really strong connection right away,” says Jaffe.
While bonding over music, Basquiat mentioned he was planning to fly to Japan the next day and invited Jaffe along, launching what would become a globe-trotting tour. Together they travelled from Tokyo to Kyoto via bullet train then on to Bangkok and St. Moritz before returning to New York, where Jaffe continued to photograph Basquiat as his star rose.
JeanMichel Basquiat at work in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Photo by Lee Jaffe
Jaffe would drop by Basquiat’s new studio on Great Jones Street late at night, and they would smoke and talk about poetry, music, and philosophy while Basquiat continued to paint. In the new book Jean-Michel Basquiat: Crossroads (Rizzoli), selections from which will be on view in King Pleasure, Jaffe looks back at his remarkable friendship with the artist just as he catapulted into the stratosphere.
Watching Basquiat work, Jaffe was reminded of his time with Bob Marley. Jaffe would play harmonica with Marley on acoustic guitar, effortlessly writing songs that would become classics. “They both had this aura of being divinely inspired,” Jaffe recalls. “He was making music all the time and Jean was painting all the time. It seemed like it was coming from another worldly place and was just passing through them.”
Describing Basquiat’s studio as “ordered chaos,” Jaffe watched him prepare for a major 1984 exhibition at Mary Boone Gallery in Soho just as the art market bubble began to swell to new heights. Despite the influential Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and ‘70s, Basquiat was the first Black artist to break through the historically exclusionary New York art world since Romare Bearden and Sam Gilliam exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in 1971.
Bob Marley and Lee Jaffe, Chelsea Hotel, NYC 1973. Photo by Peter Tosh
Lee Jaffe and Jean Michel Basquiat: Carmel, New York, 1983. Photo by Paige Powell
Possessed with a social consciousness that seemed antithetical to the neoliberal art world, Basquiat used his work to bring attention to issues of race, police brutality, slavery, colonialism, and social injustice. “He fit into this ‘noble savage’ image that he was fighting against, so there was a tension between him and the art world – but the art world needed someone like him,” says Jaffe.
Nearly 35 years since Basquiat died, his work continues to break records at auction year after year – a far cry from where he began as a student at New York’s High School of Art & Design writing SAMO® on the streets alongside Al Diaz.
“He opened the door at a time when hip hop was starting to become popular music,” says Jaffe. “Both Jean and Bob had this ability to distil current events and make multi-levelled comments on it. There is nothing naive about their work.”
JeanMichel Basquiat: Carmel, New York 1983. Photo by Lee Jaffe
Jean-Michel Basquiat shooting the installation of Lee Jaffe’s sculpture “Inverted Oak” Carmel, New York 1983. Photo by Lee Jaffe
Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure is on view at RXR’s Starrett-Lehigh Building in New York beginning 9 April 2022.
Follow Miss Rosen on Twitter.
Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
You might like
Joe Bloom’s View From a Bridge
More stories, more human — The artist and creator of the vertical video generation’s most loved storytelling platform explains the process behind creating the show, and the importance of bucking trends.
Written by: Isaac Muk
When David Wojnarowicz became Arthur Rimbaud
Arthur Rimbaud in New York — In 1978, the American artist and his friends donned masks to pay tribute to the French poet, who was born a century before him. Miss Rosen traces the differing yet parallel lives of the queer revolutionaries.
Written by: Miss Rosen
On the set of ‘La Bamba’, lost Latino legend Ritchie Valens’s biopic
The overnight rockstar — The Chicano rock & roll star exploded overnight in the late ’50s, but just as quickly he was gone, killed in a plane crash along with Buddy Holly. An ’80s biopic saw him immortalised on the big screen, which photographer Merrick Morton captured behind the scenes.
Written by: Miss Rosen
Louis Theroux’s ‘Manosphere’ shows men aren’t the problem, platforms are
No Ws for Good Men — The journalist’s new documentary sees him dive headfirst into the toxicities and machinations of the male influencer economy. But when young creators are monetarily incentivised to make more and more outrageous content, who really is to blame?
Written by: Emma Garland
In the 1960s, African photographers recaptured their own image
Ideas of Africa — An exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art explores the 20th century’s most important lensers, including Seydou Keïta, Malick Sidibé and Kwame Brathwaite, and their impact on challenging dominant European narratives.
Written by: Miss Rosen
Reynaldo Rivera’s intimate portrait of queer Latino love
Propiedad Privada — Growing up during the AIDS pandemic, the photographer entered a world where his love was not only taboo, but dangerous. His new monograph presents inward-looking shots made over four decades, which reclaim the power of desire.
Written by: Miss Rosen
