Debbie Harry by Andy Warhol

national coming out day by keith haring, 1988. 

“Jean-Michel Basquiat, the 80s East Village art-world sensation who died of a heroin overdose at age 27, may have made his last painting on a door in a South 4th Street Williamsburg bodega in 1988. Unknown to the then 18-year-old dope dealer who used the bodega as a front, the artist who Madonna once described as “too fragile for this world” would have created the horned-devil image during the bleak, final stage of his life.

The authentication of the painting is precarious if not impossible, especially since the artist’s estate ruled that the work is definitely not his—a decision denying the work a potentiallymultimillion dollar price tag. This pronouncement is not up for appeal; the estate is the sole entity charged with authenticating the artist’s works.

This turn of events has raised some eyebrows. In New York magazine, longtime friend New York street artist Kenny Scharf says, “It looks like his work to me. It resonates this kind of energy that his line did, so that’s how I can tell. He was going through obviously a lot, and it’s just sadness and being alone. I see that. It goes perfectly in sync with everything he did. I wouldn’t say that it’s his greatest painting, but it’s not a bad one.” The painting lacks a signature or his characteristic copyright symbol, but so do many of Basquiat’s known works.”

Rome Pays Off, Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1985

Screenprint on Lenox Museum Board, 44 x 40 inches.

illteachyouhowto:

Keith Haring & Andy Warhol on Madonna´s Newspappers frontpage

Keith Haring for the American Music Festival - New York City Ballet - 1988

poster for their collaboration at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery in 1985