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Lot Essay
At an early age, Basquiat became fascinated with the human body and particularly with skeletal structure when he was given the book 'Gray's Anatomy' while recuperating from surgery. This fascination is blatant throughout his short career, demonstrated in many works in which he painted and titled different parts of the human anatomy.
'Trunk',of 1992, is one of the earliest and most impressive examples of Basquiat's interest with the human anatomy. Here, the artist painted, in a graffiti-like manner, a torso or a 'trunk', labelling it from the neck down to the phallus or 'bicho'. The artist's very personal symbolism and vocabulary are fully displayed.
According to Richard Marshall: "... from 1980 to late 1982, Basquiat used painterly gestures on canvases, most often depicting skeletal figures and masklike faces that signal his obsession with mortality, and imagery derived from his street existence..." (In: 'Jean-Michel Basquiat' New York, 1992, p.23) Indeed, the pale green, black and yellow colours applied with expressive brushstrokes add a dramatic element that reflects the artist's own existence.
'Trunk',of 1992, is one of the earliest and most impressive examples of Basquiat's interest with the human anatomy. Here, the artist painted, in a graffiti-like manner, a torso or a 'trunk', labelling it from the neck down to the phallus or 'bicho'. The artist's very personal symbolism and vocabulary are fully displayed.
According to Richard Marshall: "... from 1980 to late 1982, Basquiat used painterly gestures on canvases, most often depicting skeletal figures and masklike faces that signal his obsession with mortality, and imagery derived from his street existence..." (In: 'Jean-Michel Basquiat' New York, 1992, p.23) Indeed, the pale green, black and yellow colours applied with expressive brushstrokes add a dramatic element that reflects the artist's own existence.