[daveart]

Basquiat is the most powerful artists I have spent time learning about. For most of us thought the concept of owning a Basquiat is in the same league as owning a private jet..

After Basquiat's death his estate - controlled by his father - issued two sets of prints based on paintings Basquiat had held in his personal collection.

The first edition was of four prints and the second edition a few years later was also comprised of four prints.

here is a link to see all eight. not recommending this source for purchase.. they just have a nice page that shows all eight in one spot.

www.hamiltonselway.com/basquiat/

These were available for around $10,000 a few years back and the soared into the $30,000 range during the big run up of the last few years. I have seen them now and again lately in the below $15,000. not a bargain .. but considering the original would be in the $2,000,000 range if you could even find it .. maybe its an ok deal.

note that the value of these will always be held back by the fact Basquiat himself did not authorize or sign these. one gallery owner i spoke with believes Basquiat had approved the first set of four prints but did not live to see the project through to completion. so possibly the first set is more authentic to what the artist wanted.

I own Cabeza. which is from the second set

The original was painted on a blanket stretched between wood planks. the print captures the texturing of the blanket but you lose the three dimensions of course.

This is a massive print and is powerful enough to stop people in their tracks. of all the art i have ever purchased .. this piece holds attention the longest.

There are a number of good Books about Basquiat if you google around.. as well as a decent movie .. which i recommend.

The pop art movement lost Warhol, Basquiat, and keith haring in about a three year stretch. imagine in 2012 if banksy, faile, dface (sorry .. had to pick top three in my opinion - feel free to pick your own three) all died.

warhold - complications post surgery
basquiat - drug overdose
haring - aids

tragic losses all.


anyway for those of you who are interested in basquiat i thought i would bring up the editions and see if anyone else had them or were interested in them.


regards.

[Poppy Sunshine]

I bet these look fantastic in the flesh and they are massive.
Not got any Basquiat of any sort but would love a couple of these.
Are the prices you mentioned for the set or each?

[daveart]

unfortunately those are the prices for each piece. there are a few knocking about on ebay right now ranging from 13k to 30K. in my opinion 30k prices are the gallery prices that have not adjusted to the current market. best of luck to you.

[snausages]

When I saw them in a gallery they were huge and cool but still reminded of just big posters. These are nice in the flesh sure, but they are definitely lacking that special something, which might be the aura of these being printed posthumously to rake in cash for the estate.

They were only about $6-7000 about 4-5 years ago. In honesty I think most of these will return to about $10000 and under now that the bubble has burst. And in my opinion, if you have $10k to spend I'd much rather see that money put into a real painting, print, photo by a living contemporary artist. That's enough that you could purchase a decent sized work by a number of well positioned contemporary artists.

But if anyone here is jonesing for a Basquiat original, I know someone who has 2 paintings, both for about £60k. Serious inquiries can PM me.

[dotdot]

thanks for the info and heads up DA - much apprec.

Basquiat is on my list - ahem print list (of course) - for now.

I'm biding my time - one will pop up when I'm ready - I'm sure...

Might have to fly to the us to pick it up however.

cheers

[henriksan]

Basquiat is one of my favorite artists and I was lucky enough to catch the big exhibition at Brooklyn Museum when I was in New York a few years back. His paintings are just amazing in the flesh! I can also recommend the movie "Basquiat" where David Bowie is brilliant as Andy Warhol.

Anyway... if anyone is interested in one of those prints I saw one on Artnet, bidding around $10K at the moment.

www.artnet.com/auctions/Pages/Common/Lot/LotDetails.aspx?lotId=6211

[daveart]

Snausages is correct on the initial prices.. i really did not follow these until after they had already hit over 10k and thats about what i have in it .. then watched them spiral up and up and now coming back down.. the street scene has flippers. the established art market has galleries to create the illusion they need. one thing about these is as long as the established galleries support basquiats work i believe these will be relevant in some way to the overall body of basquiats paintings.

haring has a number of prints published posthumously. of which i own a few.. and also some signed by Haring. they all hang the same. i believe warhol also has some posthumously published editions. for better or worse.. prints are big posters.. people assign the value they want.

one thing about these basquiat prints. the study and appreciateion of basquiats body of work has held and maybe even increased over 30 + years since he started painting and 20 years since his death. i hope this means this print will be identifiable and interesting well into the future.

not to speak for him or steal his ideas but Lee has mentioned many times on this forum .. very very few of the artists from the 80's are still talked about .. and this will certainly apply to today's artists in 20 years.