Title: Basquiat's Defacement
Description: Jean-Michel Basquiat painted 'Defacement' (The Death of Michael Stewart) in 1983 to commemorate the death of a young, black artist who died from injuries sustained while in police custody after being arrested for allegedly tagging a New York City subway station. Published to accompany a focused exhibition of Basquiat's response to anti-black racism and police brutality, this catalogue explores a chapter in the artist's career through both the lens of his identity and the Lower East Side as a nexus of activism in the early 1980s.
Subjects: Basquiat, jean-michel, 1961-1988, Exhibitions, Political and social views, Police brutality, Art, Racism, African Americans, Social conditions, Expositions, 20.54 American art