Text

After working with how important text and color are to design I have decided to relate it to another fine artist. This time I have chosen Jean-Michel Basquiat, remember him? He is a fine artist but one look at his work and one questions whether it is a child that has created this work.  He consciously made the decision to create work like this and like Picasso, he made the audience question what exactly fine art is.

The first is a work of Basquiat titled Charles the First. At a single glance the viewer realizes that this is a flat surface and there is really no attempt to create a three dimensional surface. The viewer sees a mix of words and illustrations in three seperate sections created by vertical lines. Some of these words are not very visible and one word is even crossed out. The crossing out of this word grabs the attention of the viewer. Because it is crossed the viewer questions why and I believe that he made the choice to cross out that word for a reason. Because we are in America we read the work from left to right looking for some sort of message because that is what makes a piece “fine art” right?

The second piece is a work of Basquait titled Sugar Ray Robinson. I chose this piece because this work is comprised of text, color, and illustration. The text and illustrations are prevelant because of the contrast with the dark background. Sugar Ray Robinson was a welterweight and middleweight boxer of the 1940’s and 50’s. He was a black boxer in a period of American history where blacks were discriminated against. I think Basquiat captures that era perfectly in this piece. The head of what one will assume is supposed to be Robinson with a crown floating above his head are surrounded by darkness. The viewer cannot even see his body only his head. Basquait has crowned Robinson as a black king in a time when blacks could not even use the same water fountains as whites. The only colors used in the piece is black and white, but the darkness consumes the white.

Charles the First

Sugar Ray Robinson