Untitled (How to do Strong Man Tricks Without Strength)

Executed in 1982, Untitled (How to do Strong Man Tricks Without Strength) reveals Jean-Michel Basquiat’s poetic fusion of images and text. The work was acquired directly from Diego Cortez: curator of the groundbreaking ‘New York/New Wave’ exhibition at P.S.1 in February 1981 which launched Basquiat, then just twenty years old, to widespread acclaim. ‘New York/New Wave’ was perhaps the most important exhibition of 1980s New York. Aiming to seriously examine the crossover between music and visual art in New Wave culture with a focus on punk and graffiti-associated visuals, Cortez featured 119 artists including Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Kenny Scharf and Keith Haring. Against the white of the paper, Basquiat’s inky marks swirl around the titular words, exemplifying the streetwise ingenuity that caught Cortez’s eye. Anchoring the composition is a single triangular weight of 250 lbs. The work was created at an ascendant moment for the artist: 1982 brought Basquiat his first solo exhibition at Annina Nosei's Prince Street gallery and his work was included later that year in Documenta 7 in Kassel, Germany. In April of that year, Basquiat travelled to Los Angeles for his first solo exhibition at the Larry Gagosian Gallery, which was co-organised between Gagosian and Annina Nosei. The curator Fred Hoffman, who worked with Basquiat in Los Angeles on a series of silk-screen editions, remembers, ‘One day he experimented on an image containing references specific to his Venice experience. In this work, which was never released, the artist showed his fascination with Muscle Beach—things which he would not have encountered anywhere else. In this work, Basquiat included the texts “How to Perform Strongman Tricks Without Strength,” “Barbells,” and “Two Hundred and Fifty Pounds”’ (F. Hoffman, ‘Fred hoffman describes a close encounter with acclaimed artist jean michel basquiat in venice’, i-D, 23 December 2014, https://i-d.vice.com/en_uk/article/43vwed/fred-hoffman-describes-a-close-encounter-with-acclaimed-artist-jean-michel-basquiat-in-venice). In Untitled (How to do Strong Man Tricks Without Strength), Basquiat alludes to the surreal dynamics of Muscle Beach, a strip of land where local fitness buffs gather to exercise. In these bodies, he found icons of self-made power – a recurring theme through his practice, and one that perhaps spoke to his own rapid ascent to fame.