New book The Making of an Icon examines artist whose works have become almost ubiquitous
It seems like a new Jean-Michel Basquiat fashion collaboration drops online most weeks, from a £20 Uniqlo crew neck T-shirt to a kimono or a sports bra. But more than 35 years since his death in 1988, would the New York artist have been flattered or horrified by the mass marketing of his art?
Basquiat’s premature death at 27 means that questions will remain as to whether he would have signed off on things like bathmats on Redbubble or Ligne Bath’s Trumpet candle. How would he, for example, have felt about a Basquiat collaboration with MeUndies underpants – with the tagline: “Jean-Michel Basquiat … taught us all to look inward and find our authentic self. MeUndies always strives for authenticity.”
