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Lot Essay
"For an artist, the most important and most delicate relationship he can have with another artist is one in which he is constantly challenged and intimidated... Jean-Michel and Andy had achieved a healthy balance." (K. Haring, 'Painting the Third Mind', Collaborations: Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, exh. cat., Mayor Rowan Gallery, London, 1988).
"...I’ve got these desperate feelings that nothing means anything. And then I decide that I should try to fall in love, and that’s what I’m doing now with Jon Gould, but then it’s just too hard. I mean, you think about a person constantly and it’s just a fantasy, it’s not real, and then it gets so involved, you have to see them all the time and then it winds up that it’s just a job like everything else, so I don’t know. But Jon is a good person to be in love with because he has his own career, and I can develop movie ideas with him, you know? And maybe he can even convince Paramount to advertise in Interview, too. Right? So my crush on him will be good for business." (Andy Warhol, Thursday, April 16, 1981).
The result of an innovative collaboration between two of the most culturally significant artists of the 20th century, Paramount Pictures blends together the distinctive styles of Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, together with the heady atmosphere of 1980s New York. Painted in 1985, this work dissolves the boundaries between mass media and street art, merging the two distinct artistic identities together on one canvas. The heated expression of Basquiat’s gestural impulsivities contrasted with the cool commercialism of Warhol’s pop culture are described by a friend of both artists, Keith Haring, as being, “a physical conversation happening in paint instead of words. The sense of humor, the snide remarks, the profound realizations, the simple chit-chat all happened with paint and brushes… There was a sense that one was watching something being unveiled and discovered for the first time” (K. Haring, “Painting the Third Mind,” Collaborations: Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, exh. cat., Mayor Rowan Gallery, London, 1988).
Initially inspired by art dealer Bruno Bischofberger in 1983, the collaboration between Warhol and Basquiat was first part of an organized project which also included the Italian artist Franceso Clemente, however the relationship between the two Americans grew into a larger two- year artistic partnership. Paramount Pictures is an exciting amalgamation of Warhol and Basquiat’s visions; a base of three painted Paramount Pictures logos in various colors and sizes, visibly Warhol’s contribution, overlaid with Basquiat’s red, white, black, and yellow additions of text, figure, and gestural strokes, the painting is a palimpsest of ideas and styles. A red strip of Basquiat’s paint reaches both ends of the canvas, his iconic text and strikethrough of letters telling the viewer to “reevaluate,” however Basquiat’s messages are always layered, provoking the viewer to wonder his purpose and intention. In repeating the Paramount Pictures logo, Warhol borrows the household symbol to signify not only the company, but the filmmaking industry as well–perhaps in an effort to encourage the viewer to reevaluate what we see on the silver screen. Warhol’s Hollywood imagery evokes Ed Ruscha’s iconic appropriation of the 20th Century Fox logo (Large Trademark with Eight Spotlights, 1962. Whitney Museum of American Art), yet contrary to the LA artist, the New York sentiments of Warhol and Basquiat twist the Hollywood commentary to one of mundane cynicism.
The Paramount Pictures logo also has an important and specific connection to Jon Gould, who was gifted the painting by Andy Warhol and was the Vice President of Corporate Communications at Paramount Pictures. Andy Warhol and Jon Gould were together between the years of 1981 and 1985, during which time Jon lived with Andy in his stays in New York. According to Bob Colacello, Warhol spent a good deal of time and effort winning over Jon’s affection, and was desperate for his attention and love. Indeed, in Jon’s presence Warhol was vulnerable in a way that deviated from the distant and mechanical persona he typically employed in his life as well as his work. Due to their closeness, Jon was the recipient of many gifts from Warhol including the present Paramount Pictures.
This collaboration brought together two icons of the New York art world. Not only producing an innovative body of work, but also providing a platform on which mentor and protégé could create together. Basquiat represented the generation of artists to come after Warhol’s legacy and balanced his admiration for Warhol with an eagerness to challenge him as well, recollecting the experience: “[Warhol] would start most of the paintings. He’d start one, you know, put… something very concrete or recognizable like a newspaper headline or a product logo and I would sort of deface it and then when I would try to get him to work some more on it, you know, and then I would work more on it. I tried to get him to do at least two things. He likes to do just one hit, you know [laughs] and then have me do all the work after that… We used to paint over each other’s stuff all the time” (J.-M. Basquiat, quoted in B. Johnston and T. Davis, ‘I Have to Have Some Source Material Around Me: Interview 1985’, in D. Buckhart and S. Keller (eds.), Basquiat, exh. cat., Fondation Beyeler, Ostfildern, 2010, p. xxxi). Warhol matched Basquiat’s method of working by abandoning the silkscreen and painting only by hand, leveling the playing field in the match between these two painters, a notion realized in the 1985 promotional image for the Tony Shafrazi Gallery opening of the two artists, side-by-side, clad in boxing gloves.
Basquiat admired Warhol’s work and in turn, Warhol was captivated by Basquiat’s youthful energy, the two coming together as equals in their collaboration. The viewer’s eye moves from a recognizable image to an enigmatic one all within the same canvas. Not only does this pairing reveal the difference in the social and political concerns of both artists, but also shows how easily these themes intersect–deeply personal sentiments of Basquiat bleeding into the popular culture icons of Warhol, making the personal public and the public personal. In doing so, Warhol’s reflections on logos, products, and mass culture represent the artist just as Basquiat represents himself through expressive painting. Both introduce something uniquely their own in the styles that have made them icons.
"...I’ve got these desperate feelings that nothing means anything. And then I decide that I should try to fall in love, and that’s what I’m doing now with Jon Gould, but then it’s just too hard. I mean, you think about a person constantly and it’s just a fantasy, it’s not real, and then it gets so involved, you have to see them all the time and then it winds up that it’s just a job like everything else, so I don’t know. But Jon is a good person to be in love with because he has his own career, and I can develop movie ideas with him, you know? And maybe he can even convince Paramount to advertise in Interview, too. Right? So my crush on him will be good for business." (Andy Warhol, Thursday, April 16, 1981).
The result of an innovative collaboration between two of the most culturally significant artists of the 20th century, Paramount Pictures blends together the distinctive styles of Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, together with the heady atmosphere of 1980s New York. Painted in 1985, this work dissolves the boundaries between mass media and street art, merging the two distinct artistic identities together on one canvas. The heated expression of Basquiat’s gestural impulsivities contrasted with the cool commercialism of Warhol’s pop culture are described by a friend of both artists, Keith Haring, as being, “a physical conversation happening in paint instead of words. The sense of humor, the snide remarks, the profound realizations, the simple chit-chat all happened with paint and brushes… There was a sense that one was watching something being unveiled and discovered for the first time” (K. Haring, “Painting the Third Mind,” Collaborations: Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, exh. cat., Mayor Rowan Gallery, London, 1988).
Initially inspired by art dealer Bruno Bischofberger in 1983, the collaboration between Warhol and Basquiat was first part of an organized project which also included the Italian artist Franceso Clemente, however the relationship between the two Americans grew into a larger two- year artistic partnership. Paramount Pictures is an exciting amalgamation of Warhol and Basquiat’s visions; a base of three painted Paramount Pictures logos in various colors and sizes, visibly Warhol’s contribution, overlaid with Basquiat’s red, white, black, and yellow additions of text, figure, and gestural strokes, the painting is a palimpsest of ideas and styles. A red strip of Basquiat’s paint reaches both ends of the canvas, his iconic text and strikethrough of letters telling the viewer to “reevaluate,” however Basquiat’s messages are always layered, provoking the viewer to wonder his purpose and intention. In repeating the Paramount Pictures logo, Warhol borrows the household symbol to signify not only the company, but the filmmaking industry as well–perhaps in an effort to encourage the viewer to reevaluate what we see on the silver screen. Warhol’s Hollywood imagery evokes Ed Ruscha’s iconic appropriation of the 20th Century Fox logo (Large Trademark with Eight Spotlights, 1962. Whitney Museum of American Art), yet contrary to the LA artist, the New York sentiments of Warhol and Basquiat twist the Hollywood commentary to one of mundane cynicism.
The Paramount Pictures logo also has an important and specific connection to Jon Gould, who was gifted the painting by Andy Warhol and was the Vice President of Corporate Communications at Paramount Pictures. Andy Warhol and Jon Gould were together between the years of 1981 and 1985, during which time Jon lived with Andy in his stays in New York. According to Bob Colacello, Warhol spent a good deal of time and effort winning over Jon’s affection, and was desperate for his attention and love. Indeed, in Jon’s presence Warhol was vulnerable in a way that deviated from the distant and mechanical persona he typically employed in his life as well as his work. Due to their closeness, Jon was the recipient of many gifts from Warhol including the present Paramount Pictures.
This collaboration brought together two icons of the New York art world. Not only producing an innovative body of work, but also providing a platform on which mentor and protégé could create together. Basquiat represented the generation of artists to come after Warhol’s legacy and balanced his admiration for Warhol with an eagerness to challenge him as well, recollecting the experience: “[Warhol] would start most of the paintings. He’d start one, you know, put… something very concrete or recognizable like a newspaper headline or a product logo and I would sort of deface it and then when I would try to get him to work some more on it, you know, and then I would work more on it. I tried to get him to do at least two things. He likes to do just one hit, you know [laughs] and then have me do all the work after that… We used to paint over each other’s stuff all the time” (J.-M. Basquiat, quoted in B. Johnston and T. Davis, ‘I Have to Have Some Source Material Around Me: Interview 1985’, in D. Buckhart and S. Keller (eds.), Basquiat, exh. cat., Fondation Beyeler, Ostfildern, 2010, p. xxxi). Warhol matched Basquiat’s method of working by abandoning the silkscreen and painting only by hand, leveling the playing field in the match between these two painters, a notion realized in the 1985 promotional image for the Tony Shafrazi Gallery opening of the two artists, side-by-side, clad in boxing gloves.
Basquiat admired Warhol’s work and in turn, Warhol was captivated by Basquiat’s youthful energy, the two coming together as equals in their collaboration. The viewer’s eye moves from a recognizable image to an enigmatic one all within the same canvas. Not only does this pairing reveal the difference in the social and political concerns of both artists, but also shows how easily these themes intersect–deeply personal sentiments of Basquiat bleeding into the popular culture icons of Warhol, making the personal public and the public personal. In doing so, Warhol’s reflections on logos, products, and mass culture represent the artist just as Basquiat represents himself through expressive painting. Both introduce something uniquely their own in the styles that have made them icons.