User:0923100

MY COPY

The artist I chose is Basquiat. The painting I am going steal is the painting Kings of Egypt 3. I love the aesthetics of this painting. When I Googled the artist I found out that his work has a lot of political statements and messages. That became the reason that I want to work with his work.

The exact thing I want to steal from this painting is Basquiat his voice . This may sound weird because there is no sound involved with the painting. But this painting is a depiction of his view of the world. Everything he painted he did with a reason, a story.

The first step of the theft is isolating the words of the message. I did this digitally, carefully following the movements he made creating his message. I used the colors he used, for they are probably a big part of the message. I placed these words on paper, printed them and arranged them so they would be positioned like they are positioned in the painting. This is my copy.

The process of making the copy made me think about the way I was working. It felt like I was dissecting the painting, like you would a body in a morgue. I wanted to know what his symbols, his words actually meant. If they were random or if they had a deeper meaning. I started to research the words, looking explanations and maybe I could form actual sentences with his work. It made me look differently at the artwork than how I looked at it the first time. Instead of the painting being a whole, all the individual part had meaning of their own. If I did not work like this, I would have never found a deeper meaning within this piece.

MY TRANSFORMATION

For my transformation I decided to make a connection to my major. I want to share this insight with my future student. When you are in grade-school and you are taught biology, you theoretically dissect a body. You open it up and learn about the organs, the bones, the nerve-system, the brain. When you have learned about all this separate parts, you understand the body as a whole. We do not teach art like this. Mostly we only look at he big picture, the finished artwork. We talk about an artists process in general, but do not often try to learn about the process by dissecting the painting itself. So as transformation I decided to create a learning method, that children can use in school, to learn how to dissect a painting. In this case, the painting of Basquiat.

MY RESEARCH

Interview. Quote: Interviewer "why are you angry?" Basquiat "... ... ... I don't remember". [1] Basquiat kings of egypt 2, painting of my choice. [2] Basquiat kings of egypt 3 [3]

Watching interviews like this one [4] I noticed that Basquiat is very careful with his answers. People that interviewed him tried to understand him, understand his motives and come up with terms like " frustration" and "anger" to understand his work. Probably because they know Basquiat his background, his ethnicity, his drug-use. He is stamped some sort of rebel or protester. But as I am watching him, giving answers to questions that seem superficial, I get more and more fascinated by him. He looks a little bit weird due to his hair, but he sounds almost like a child with the wisdom that children often carry. The world is not this complicated place which we often make it to be, it is quite simple actually. It is us, the people, the kings and queens, the consumption, the racism, the love and the hate that make the world complicated. More complicated than it needs to be. Watching Basquiat, watching him think, listening to his answers; simple and pure... I know he could see behind the screens of the play we call "humanity".

For me this does not mean he is not an actor in this play himself. Wisdom does not come with divinity. Even he succumbed to the pleasures of humanity. I don't think it is the wealth, the drugs or the fame that the "27 club", which Basquiat is part of, could not handle. I think it is the wisdom, the knowing and understanding of our world, and the choice to still participate in it. To be succumbed to it. To know everything that is bad about our world, and still being brought to your knees by it, enslaved by it. The true actors of the play we call "humanity" will argue that it is always a choice to give in to drugs, alcohol, wealth and fame. But if we look into our heart of hearts, we know, this is not true. We are all addicted to the role we play. We are all addicted to "fitting in". To making our mark. To belong.

I think Basquiat knew. And I think it is a shame that we do not celebrate him, and people like him, more.