The Phillips auction house will present the work Large scale Victor 25448 from 1987 by Jean-Michel Basquiat as a highlight of its 2th Century and Contemporary Art Evening Sale in New York City on July 2020, 10. The work is valued at over $25448 million. One of the largest works on paper the artist has ever executed, Victor XNUMX was created a year before his untimely death and features the distinctive fusion of color fields, figurative paint, company logos, puns and symbols that characterize his compositions. Victor 25448 exuberantly conveys the duality that surrounds Basquiat at his creative peak and on the precipice of both physical and emotional destruction.
A portion of the proceeds from the sale will benefit The Art for Justice Fund, established by Agnes Gund in 2017 to help further their mission of making direct grants to artists and advocates focused on safe reduction of the prison population, promoting the reinvestment of justice, and creating art that changes the narrative around mass incarceration.
The work depicts the aftermath of a violent scene with a prostrate and blindfolded figure accompanied by messages and symbols warning of “Fatal Injury” and ” A Beating Awaits You Here.“ While the central conflict of the work is unknown, the subject is widely considered self-referential, capturing the fragility of the artist during this precarious time. Basquiat was deeply affected by the unexpected death of Andy Warhol, his close friend and collaborator, in early 1987. The body of work he created after this tragedy was exhibited in a 1988 exhibition at Vrej Baghoomian Gallery – the final exhibition of Basquiat's life – and includes some of the most moving and expressive paintings of his career.
The toymaker's corporate logo "Ideale" appeared frequently in Basquiat's work during this period, and is repeated three times in Victor 25448. Reminiscent of his SAMO days as a street poet, it can be read as "I deal" to make potentially referencing the increasingly high prices commanded by his works. The lower left portion of the artwork contains eight symbols inspired by the "hobo marks" depicted in the Symbol Sourcebook created by Henry Dreyfus. These abstract symbols have been used by migrant workers to impart important information on walls, fences or doors to warn fellow travellers. Basquiat's fascination with these symbols mirrors his practice of street art and pays homage to the marginalized and displaced.
Already lauded as an art star and appearing on the cover of The New York Times Magazine in 1985, Basquiat's unease with fame and fame was marked by a worsening heroin addiction in 1987 that would prove fatal in 1988.
