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Week Around the Ists
If you are sitting around trying to figure out what to do in Shanghai until Mike Tyson arrives, we highly suggest you head on over to Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art to check out the Basquiat Retrospective, which runs until April 10. It's a fantastic way to get lost for an hour or two, to recharge your creative juices, or simply enjoy being surrounded by someone else's.
More information on Jean-Michel Basquiat, the graffiti-artist-turned-avante-garde-wunderkind who died of a heroin overdose at the age of 27 in 1988, can be found here and here. Street to Studio is a great site that offers an interactive look at Basquiat's work. Basquiat was the subject of a critically-acclaimed 1996 film called Basquiat -- you can read the script for that movie here. basquiat.net has a decent online gallery featuring Basquiat's art.
So go to Duolun. Now. And if Basquiat turns out not to be your cup of tea -- he's an acquired taste -- take a stroll along Duolun Lu, a great little walking street with nice old buildings and lots of interesting shops.
Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art. 27 Duolun Lu, near Sichuan Lu (多伦路27号). Open Tuesday-Sunday, 10 am - 6 pm. Tel: 65872530. Admission: 10 RMB.
Related:
Flyboy in the Buttermilk: Jean-Michel Basquiat (The Nation)
Jean-Michel Basquiat's Fifteen Minutes (City Weekend)
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I completely agree with Mark Vallen. This 'art' fails at what it aims at, and is neither pleasant to look or nor deep in meaning. A mess of paint, incoherently about black people interpreted by yuppies.
Some of Basqiat's paintings are good (not great), but it's only decorative art really. Unfortunately, only two of the drawings on show here are any good at all, and the vast majority are awful. The earlier works are particularly embarrassing. It makes me wonder how strong an influence Warhol was on the young graffiti artist.
Gothamist has posted a video of Basquiat tagging in NYC. It's from a film called Downtown 81. And here is another one: A young Basquiat gets "interviewed" on a cable access show called TV Party.