{"id":108487,"date":"2025-03-18T12:55:22","date_gmt":"2025-03-18T03:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/voyapon.com\/?p=108487"},"modified":"2025-03-18T12:55:28","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T03:55:28","slug":"jean-michel-basquiat-and-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/voyapon.com\/jean-michel-basquiat-and-japan\/","title":{"rendered":"High and Low: Jean-Michel Basquiat and Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In the 1980s <a href=\"https:\/\/basquiat.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Jean-Michel Basquiat<\/strong><\/a> <strong>\u30b8\u30e3\u30f3=\u30df\u30b7\u30a7\u30eb\u30fb\u30d0\u30b9\u30ad\u30a2<\/strong> emerged as probably the first real-deal African-American art superstar. Beginning as a graffiti artist on the crusts of popular culture he rampaged through New York signing his public work as <strong>SAMO<\/strong> (meaning \u2014 Same Old Shit), he graduated into one of the most prominent painters of the 20th century. <strong>An artistic and cultural magpie<\/strong>, he took from and referred to native African art, Da Vinci, Picasso, Pollock and his beloved mentor Andy Warhol. Basquiat, a beautiful man, charismatic, shy with an astounding talent and a massive influence on contemporary art which can still be felt today.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"573\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.voyapon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/17132132\/basquiat.tif_.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-108599\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s3.voyapon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/17132132\/basquiat.tif_.jpg 800w, https:\/\/s3.voyapon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/17132132\/basquiat.tif_-500x358.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Bruno Bischofberger and Fransesco Clemente, New York, 1984. Photo:&nbsp;<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/deed.en\">Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-ht-block-toc  is-style-outline htoc htoc--position-wide toc-list-style-plain\" data-htoc-state=\"expanded\"><span class=\"htoc__title\"><span class=\"ht_toc_title\">Table of Contents<\/span><span class=\"htoc__toggle\"><\/span><\/span><div class=\"htoc__itemswrap\"><ul class=\"ht_toc_list\"><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#htoc-basquiat-and-fashion\">Basquiat and Fashion<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#htoc-high-and-low-culture\">High and Low Culture<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#htoc-basquiat-s-art-and-japan\">Basquiat&#8217;s Art and Japan<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"htoc-basquiat-and-fashion\">Basquiat and Fashion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In the 1990s, as a student in Glasgow, I was studying theater and literature but also attempting to explore more about music and art. Most student apartments at that time were decorated with posters of work from Rothko, Klimt or the movie posters for <em>Pulp Fiction<\/em> and <em>Trainspotting<\/em>. I remember picking up a book or maybe an art magazine and seeing Basquiat&#8217;s work for the first time, then seeing a reproduction at a house party and wondering who he was, <strong>why did this work touch me and noticing the way text and words played as much a role as images. Basquiat was very much a literary artist as well as a visual master<\/strong>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the latter half of the 1990s when the internet became more available and widely used, I began looking at photographs of artists and watched <strong>Julian Schnabel&#8217;s seminal biopic <em>Basquiat<\/em><\/strong><em> <\/em>with an unforgettable performance from Jeffrey Wright beautifully portraying Basquiat and capturing perfectly his great and unknowable complexities.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Basquiat (1996) Jeffrey Wright, David Bowie\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tlicnqcD308?start=34&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As someone with a burgeoning interest in fashion, however, <strong>it was also Basquiat&#8217;s clothing which transfixed me<\/strong>. Loose and oversized tweed jackets, crew neck wool sweaters with holes in them caused, no doubt, by joint burns, herringbone, plaid and later, when he became widely successful, Issey Miyake suits, linen jackets and a variety of paint-splattered items from Japanese brand Comme des \u200b\u200b\u200b\u200bGar\u00e7ons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>I later found out that Basquiat had actually walked the runway in 1986 for the Comme des Gar\u00e7ons Homme Plus Spring\/Summer 1987 show<\/strong> which you can watch on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=jp8mAfJv5Bc\">YouTube<\/a>, for those of you who are interested. For the Fall\/Winter 2018 the Comme des \u200bGar\u00e7ons Shirt line featured eight shirts with Basquiat&#8217;s work printed on them cementing the connection between Basquiat&#8217;s estate and Comme des \u200bGar\u00e7ons which continues even to this today.<strong> The artist&#8217;s favorite item of Comme des \u200b\u200b\u200b\u200bGar\u00e7ons clothing was a simple, three-buttoned black overcoat which hung just below the knee<\/strong>. I imagine it to be soft, supple, protective, a replacement blanket for an artist who lived with demons, destruction and a madness which I often share.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"816\" height=\"1024\" data-id=\"108603\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.voyapon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/17132649\/image_basquiat-816x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-108603\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s3.voyapon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/17132649\/image_basquiat-816x1024.jpg 816w, https:\/\/s3.voyapon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/17132649\/image_basquiat-398x500.jpg 398w, https:\/\/s3.voyapon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/17132649\/image_basquiat.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 816px) 100vw, 816px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"819\" height=\"1024\" data-id=\"108604\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.voyapon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/17132651\/mural_basquiat-819x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-108604\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s3.voyapon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/17132651\/mural_basquiat-819x1024.jpg 819w, https:\/\/s3.voyapon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/17132651\/mural_basquiat-400x500.jpg 400w, https:\/\/s3.voyapon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/17132651\/mural_basquiat.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 819px) 100vw, 819px\" \/><\/figure>\n<figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-caption wp-element-caption\">Left photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=User:Johnzhouse&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Johnzhouse<\/a> Right photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/es\/@chalogallardo?utm_content=creditCopyText&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=unsplash\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Chalo Gallardo<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>When I began researching Basquiat for this article, <strong>I noticed that in interviews he had a slight stammer when he spoke. He stuttered nervously<\/strong>. He was sometimes uncomfortable talking about and explaining his craft. He eschewed the criticism and the over intellectualization of his paintings. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/metropolisjapan.com\/i-know-you-are-but-what-am-i\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">I also stammer<\/a>. Mine is far more pronounced than his, but I feel a certain kinship with him<\/strong>. I also associate with Basquiat due to his flirtation with perceived high and low culture. A man of the streets, a bum, a hobo, an artist, a man with a penchant for expensive wine and food, an artist who enjoyed the finer things in life and someone who was at home talking about art and culture on the Lower East Side while sleeping in cardboard boxes in the Bronx or Brooklyn.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"htoc-high-and-low-culture\">High and Low Culture<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Basquiat was always an outsider. Another artist also situated on the periphery was Comme des \u200bGar\u00e7ons designer Rei Kawakubo who shunned trends and refused, steadfastly, to play the game. <strong>I&#8217;ve always been drawn to outsiders. I also feel more comfortable being on the edge, on the outside looking in. It allows for space, for movement. It permits fluidity, freedom of thought. <\/strong>It grants me the liberty to exercise my eccentricities, to wistfully and awkwardly kiss loved ones behind the elbow, to wear my collar poking outside the neckline of a crew-neck sweater, to listen to Public Image Ltd whilst watching live ballet, to eat baked beans every day for months, to shave my hair off for no apparent reason, to cry at <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=I0D98nH3Syw\">Untamed Heart<\/a><\/em> without an ounce of shame, to make my friends cringe with my awful impressions of Al Pacino and Denzel Washington, to <strong>talk to colleagues about the profundity of Barthes and Adorno whilst reading gossip magazines and eating Big Macs straight from the carton outside the Chanel flagship in the middle of Ginza.\u00a0This is the very essence of high and low<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Somehow I think that Basquiat would approve<\/strong>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"htoc-basquiat-s-art-and-japan\">Basquiat&#8217;s Art and Japan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The most recent exhibition in Japan of Basquiat&#8217;s work was <em>Made In Japan<\/em>, a retrospective at Roppongi\u2019s Mori Art Center Gallery in 2019. I didn&#8217;t have the chance to go this show, however, I did read amazing cultural commentator Tracy Jones&#8217; <a href=\"http:\/\/themicrogiant.com\/made-in-japan-jean-michel-basquiat-how-the-late-great-artist-gets-sold-to-the-white-people-of-asia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">inflammatory essay on this exhibition<\/a> on his website. As a white middle-aged white Scottish man, I will never claim to feel the same as Jones, however, as a writer and journalist I know how it feels to be an outsider looking in at these kind of events. Being the only foreigner, being shunned or ignored, being made to feel insignificant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"682\" height=\"1024\" data-id=\"108602\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.voyapon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/17132447\/museum_art-682x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-108602\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s3.voyapon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/17132447\/museum_art-682x1024.jpg 682w, https:\/\/s3.voyapon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/17132447\/museum_art-333x500.jpg 333w, https:\/\/s3.voyapon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/17132447\/museum_art.jpg 853w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 682px) 100vw, 682px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"682\" height=\"1024\" data-id=\"108601\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.voyapon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/17132447\/museum_art_2-682x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-108601\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s3.voyapon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/17132447\/museum_art_2-682x1024.jpg 682w, https:\/\/s3.voyapon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/17132447\/museum_art_2-333x500.jpg 333w, https:\/\/s3.voyapon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/17132447\/museum_art_2.jpg 853w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 682px) 100vw, 682px\" \/><\/figure>\n<figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-caption wp-element-caption\">Photos: <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/es\/@thevoncomplex?utm_content=creditCopyText&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=unsplash\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Mike Von<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Basquiat&#8217;s relationship with Japan was more complicated than first thought<\/strong>. According to art writer Julie Anne Sjaastad, writing for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sothebys.com\/en\/articles\/made-in-japan-basquiat-viewed-with-an-east-asian-twist\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Sothebys<\/a>, &#8220;Tokyo in the 1980s was enjoying rapid economic growth which spurred on its art market. As Japan approached the height of its go-go period, Tokyo\u2019s culture would soon become synonymous with sleek technologies, lightning-speed information, and cutting-edge fashion. During this time, Basquiat often visited Japan, having held six solo exhibitions and ten group exhibitions in the country. The artist was not only inspired by New York, but also by Tokyo, where he began incorporating Japanese words and phrases as well as Japanese characters into many of his works.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Paintings including <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.artnet.com\/artists\/jean-michel-basquiat\/onion-gum-p2UjlOcAl53DCaWqVfguvw2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Onion Gum<\/a><\/em> and <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/iriartadvisory\/p\/C69IanUMmox\/\">One Million Yen<\/a><\/em> incorporate Japanese references and Japan became, symbiotically, part of the great artist&#8217;s milieu. The apotheosis of his connection with Japan came in 2017 when Japanese billionaire&nbsp;<strong>Yusaku Maezawa<\/strong>&nbsp;purchased Basquiat&#8217;s&nbsp;<strong>1982 untitled skull painting<\/strong>&nbsp;for&nbsp;<strong>$110.5 million<\/strong>, setting an auction record for the artist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When I find myself in the back of a taxi roaring through <a href=\"https:\/\/voyapon.com\/walk-from-tokyo-skytree-to-tokyo-tower\/\">Tokyo<\/a> at night, surrounded by the multitudes of signs and signage, neon, text, images, animation, billboards in multiple languages, <strong>I&#8217;m often reminded of Basquiat&#8217;s kaleidoscopic and abundant output of work \u2014 considering he passed away at the age of 27<\/strong>. Polygonal, coruscant and inspiring, Basquiat&#8217;s work still astounds today and his relationship with Japan and the Japanese people seems as strong as ever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the 1980s Jean-Michel Basquiat \u30b8\u30e3\u30f3=\u30df\u30b7\u30a7\u30eb\u30fb\u30d0\u30b9\u30ad\u30a2 emerged as probably the first real-deal African-American art superstar. Beginning as a graffiti artist&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":213,"featured_media":108594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"pgc_meta":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,1418],"tags":[1309,1313],"class_list":{"0":"post-108487","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture","8":"category-featured","9":"tag-art","10":"tag-fashion"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Jean-Michel Basquiat and Japan: Cultural Influence on His Art<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Paul McInnes writes about the profound connection between artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and Japan, a country he often visited.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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