Art Friends: My friend’s boss’s art

Can we see the one with the pretty girls, now?

I like it but Basquist was on his own level.

I don't understand the art and I won't respond to it.

WOW - I would walk past those....and they would probably be worth millions.

Theyre nice; not my taste but would look good in an adobe-style home in Taos

They're nice. They're different. They're unusual.

I like the ones with blue. His skies are really good.

No. They are nothing of the level of quality of Basquiat, and the sales prices at auction are mostly in the 2- and low-3-figures. A $25 investment is not going to equal is not going to result in a 9-figure reward (at least a couple Basquiats have sold for $100,000,000+ each.)

The originality, the quality, the appeal simply isn't there even were the name to catch fire -- which isn't exactly happening with examples of $25 sales at auction, recently.

The Mazon works are "miniature" in many cases, on a small scale figurative works certainly, and that works against price trends for large scale modern abstract works. The subject matter here is more timid, a bit quaint like some Colonial images with a bit of a modern dose of a sentimental, magical take on religious iconography and historical imagery of a powdered wig sort.

Basquiat had a lot of friends and aquaintances who were artists. It doesn't really improve their marketability or value unless their work was similarly powerful, they had some pivotal influence or relationship to his work, or were somehow an important counterpoint to what he did. This isn't any of those things.

The value of his work could rise, dramatically even, as a result of collector interest. But it's not going to be worth millions or hundreds of thousands

He got ripped off. I’ve seen better art hanging in a guest room in a Holiday Inn.

I want to hear R8 give an analysis of why Basquiat, who I think is an overrated piece of shit, is so popular or even good.

Is he Latinx?

Lots of opinions

Does he have a big spanish cock?

Looks familiar

Tarot card art

Reminds me of Goya's and Frida Kahlo's paintings. Goya was versatile, though, and had more than one style.

It looks like he never evolved from an early 80s East Village aesthetic. Just refined it. Its very intricate and pretty but also mostly decorative.

I can't say I understand Basquiat's paintings, but I like and appreciate them. They remind me of Miró's paintings.

Well. It's weird that. He says in his first person bio that his art career started in 1990 when Basquiat died in 1989. And then he name drops Basquiat and Keith Haring, who died in 1990. So I'm guessing if he "knew" them it was neither well nor long.

I dated a painter and I've read a million artist bios and never seen one name drop that much.

But his pieces aren't that expensive, so if your friend's boss likes them, that's the most important thing. They can still be meaningful to him even if they're never valuable.

And having lived with an artist, I actually went from having very little interest in art to having quite a large collection of paintings. More than I can display. But I never look at the credentials of the artist. I bought things that I loved. And the most expensive thing I ever bought was $750 and I only paid that much because I'd seen it 20 years before for $300 when I was too poor to afford a sandwich much less a painting, and then one day I remembered it, called my ex (the painter), got the artists info, and found out he still owned it. So I bought it.

It's huge! It's 4'x4' and it's something you either love or hate. And I love it.

And I typo'd (probably a lot) but I meant to type Basquiat died in 1988 (before the mob comes for me).

Mea culpa

R19 Oh my!

He has a more complete bio on his website:

1980 – 1984 Studies Painting at the School of Visual Arts in NYC, under specific tutelage of Cuban Master Juan Gonzalez 1942-1993

1984 -1990 Years not active

So he must have met them in the early 80s.

Is it bizarre to write "years not active" and also bizarre to say

1990 Moves to Astoria New York. Began painting in response to the AIDS epidemic. and the positive diagnosis of his closest friend, Samuel Allan Gericke.

Because the 80s crisis started when he was in college in NY, not in 1990.

Maybe he was in prison or something. Weird person.

Oh, the website link

Meh. Garden-variety naive or self-taught art.

R21, I like pop art. I've bought a million small paintings and prints of things like crazy looking robots and funny looking monsters on Etsy and eBay and I literally have no way or space to hang them all. So most of them are in boxes and I tell myself I'll rotate them out (but then never do). But I have them. And I love them.

I have one GIANT abstract painting that is 6 feet wide by 4 feet tall. And the only reason I have that is because it was by my ex, the painter, and it was my favorite piece he ever made. And I love that he gave it to me, I love him, and he's still my best friend 13 years after we split.

But everything else i own is absolute crazy town. Like the pink Luchador.

I also like "outsider art" (which isn't a term that I love because I think it was created by elitist art school graduates to describe art by those that didn't go to art school) and this is one of my favorite paintings.

It's called Kung-Fu Bear and it was painted by a man with Down Syndrome. And you have to zoom in, but the bear looks like it has epicanthal folds (the folded eyelid) like the bear also has Down Syndrome.

I fucking love this painting. I wanted to meet the artist because I bought it at an event for a group called "Art Enables" for artists with mental and developmental disabilities. But he wasn't there. ☹️

Well, if those are the kind of paintings you wanted, R19 R26 you sure got some good ones.

[quote]Well, if those are the kind of paintings you wanted, [R19] [R26] you sure got some good ones.

Thank you!

And if you were just being a cunt...

Thank you!

Art is so pretentious. You could make some shit up and tell everyone the artist is a wonder and buzz would spread and then it would become popular. But what is it really? All in the eye of the beholder.

So everyone! Make up some art. Doesn't have to be good. Just slap some paint down and have a little snobbery about it. Be sure to say you just don't UNDERSTAND my art to anyone who correctly think it's ugly and weird. Your art will be playing cards for the rich to trade and show off.

[quote]Art is so pretentious.

It can be. But I don't think it is for most artists. Most of them never achieve any acclaim, spend their whole lives making art, and that makes them happy (or at least content. There are tortured artists. They're a bit on the pretentious side).

Art CRITICS are pretentious. As are artists that buy into any critical praise they receive.

But mostly art is lovely. It can make you happy, melancholy, angry. I don't buy art that makes me sad or mad, just stuff that delights me. And then I think the artist has done their job.

Do people buy sad feeling inducing art to hang in their homes?

[quote]Do people buy sad feeling inducing art to hang in their homes?

For millions. But most of it is in museums.

R31 pretentious hipsters and career academics, yes.

[quote] Art is so pretentious.

What? You don't know what you're talking about.

Of course I know. I am le artist! I don't want to be exploited!

I challenge you to an art battle right now? Have you ever won an award your art?