TOUR SCRIPT REVIEW.
‘BASQUIAT:BOOM FOR REAL’ at the Barbican.
Not long ago, I have signed up for the Young Barbican scheme at the Barbican center in London, and in one of their newsletters they offered me to apply for a programe which allows us to create self curated guided tours at the 'Basquiat:Boom for Real' exhibit, from October till January. I managed to get a spot on the program, and we all had to come up with our own themes for the tour. My tour focuses on how Basquiat has made a name for himself in the art world, specifically his transition from teenager to a world-renown successful artist. Basquiat was only nineteen years old when his career began to launch, which I find incredibly inspiring, being nineteen myself and still trying to figure out my own future.
I chose to begin my tour from the ‘New York, New Wave’ room of the exhibit, as it focuses on Basquiat’s paintings from the very first exhibition at which he was given prominent space to exhibit his paintings in 1981 (and the only artist to be given this much space, despite the fact that he was exhibiting with some of his already-famous contemporaries, such as Andy Warhol and William Burroughs), and is essentially the first exhibition which has launched his career as a painter. However, what I find particularly interesting about this room and what I try to engage upon with the visitors, are the works themselves; they are not your typical representation of the New York City skyline; they are abstract and unique. Not much explanation is given to the meaning behind his works; to why symbols and items are positioned in the way in which they are, and often it is completely open to ones own interpretation. Personally, I always found that through this particular series of work Basquiat depicts the noise and the motion of living in a huge, fast-paced city. Recently, on one of my last tours, a young visitor has touched upon the subject that perhaps Basquiat depicts New York city as ‘messy and eccentric’ due to his own struggles of trying to prove himself in the art world; his race and age adding a great role to this, making his experience of the city even more difficult.
I choose to focus on certain aspects of his life, rather than going in a chronological order, which is why I then focus on his collaborations with artist Jennifer Stein; specifically the postcards they have created together in 1979 which got Warhol's attention and inspired his interest in Basquiat's work; and I then ask my audience to engage their own ideas and interpretation. I also briefly focus on his collaborations with Warhol, as it was a significant part of his career, particularly the 'Dos Cabesos' work- as I analyse it with my audience, specifically focusing on how rushed it looks (as Basquiat painted it within a 2 hour span) and the contrast between how the two painted.
As Basquiat never went to art school, I then conclude my tour in the 'Art History' sector, as it shows all of his influences and knowledge of art, from Picasso to Titian. It is also very interesting to engage with the audiences interpretations of what they consider art and how they tie 'traditional art' within Basquiat's work; as even thirty years later, his works are still considered unconventional and unique.
This opportunity has definetly given me confidence in engaging my own ideas of art with an audience, as well as gave me an idea of how much work and time is put into curating an exhibit as large of scale as this one.