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Lot Essay
In 1984, Francesco Clemente, Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Baquiat were commissioned to produce a collaborative series of paintings by the Zurich art dealer Bruno Bischofberger. In these collaborations, each artist introduced his own painting style and vocabulary of images and symbols. The idea was that the three artists would not only complement each other's work, but also and specifically enhance it. The most successful of the series, which was exhibited for the first time in Zurich in September 1984, were the collaborations by Warhol and Basquiat, and sixteen of these were shown one year later at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery in New York.
Basquiat described the process: "Andy would start most of the paintings. He would start one and put something very recognizable on it, or a product logo, and then I would sort of deface it." For "Tricycle" (1984), Warhol began by silkscreening two tricycles onto the empty canvas. Then, instead of actually defacing these, Basquiat labelled them and, through a kind of x-ray technique, revealed them even more. The artist's custom of labelling is most apparent in his series based on Gray's Anatomy, which he had worked on the year before. In the present painting, he treats the tricycle as though it were a human body laid out for dissection for the purpose of anatomical studies. To the left of the tricycles, he has also included an ominous black figure, which is intentionally depicted out of relative proportion, and represents both the "boogy man" and a self-portrait of the young artist.
Basquiat described the process: "Andy would start most of the paintings. He would start one and put something very recognizable on it, or a product logo, and then I would sort of deface it." For "Tricycle" (1984), Warhol began by silkscreening two tricycles onto the empty canvas. Then, instead of actually defacing these, Basquiat labelled them and, through a kind of x-ray technique, revealed them even more. The artist's custom of labelling is most apparent in his series based on Gray's Anatomy, which he had worked on the year before. In the present painting, he treats the tricycle as though it were a human body laid out for dissection for the purpose of anatomical studies. To the left of the tricycles, he has also included an ominous black figure, which is intentionally depicted out of relative proportion, and represents both the "boogy man" and a self-portrait of the young artist.