Raw power of Basquiat on show in Hong Kong – he’s ‘so of the moment’, Lévy Gorvy gallery co-founder Brett Gorvy says
- Gallery launches a series of exhibitions focused on a single artwork with show featuring an untitled 1982 painting by the American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat
- ‘You have to see it to truly appreciate its surface and quality,’ says gallery co-founder Brett Gorvy. It’s also showing works by French painter Pierre Soulages
International art gallery Lévy Gorvy opens its new exhibition in Hong Kong this week with a seminal painting by American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.
The untitled work was created in 1982, the year when the Brooklyn-born street artist began to gain recognition in the art world with his large canvas paintings. It was also a milestone year that marked a shift for the artist from the streets to the studio.
Basquiat was funded with space and proper supplies by his new dealer Annina Nosei, and able to continue developing his signature aesthetic on canvases, paper and other surfaces like leather jackets – catapulting him to international stardom. He is said to have created more than 200 paintings in 1982 – all of which are highly sought after even today, more than three decades after his untimely death.
Co-founder and chairman of the gallery Brett Gorvy says the showing of the Basquiat work could not be more timely.
“Basquiat is so of the moment, he symbolises so many different elements that are current,” he says. “He’s an African-American artist whose work reflects the experience of racism in the art world.”
