We all know kids respond well to Warhol and Haring, both artist have works in the show, but I was trying hard to introduce artist that were a little less known to the kids and I felt Jean-Michel Basquiat would not only resonate having been working at the same time as the other two artist, but might be an artist the kids had not known before. (he also has a work on display at Mash-Up)
Basquiat self portrait, "Untitled, 1982)
The above work is predicted to bring in over forty million dollars at a May auction by Christie's! Forty million dollars, wow.
I am probably drawn to this period of modern art because I was in my late teens/early twenties when it was being created. This work and the counter culture that inspired it was intriguing and inspiring to me as a young artist trying to find my way in the world.
While presenting works created by Basquiat to the kids, I also explained other art movements that were new and unusual at the time- Hip Hop/Rap and graffiti. It is hard for the kids to grasp that these were things many people in mainstream society did not understand nor embrace, as they are now a part of everyday life for them, but to me it was important to highlight what else was happening in society when presenting the work of Haring or Basquiat so they can fully understand why the artists were driven to create the work they did.
Creating an age appropriate soundtrack of early Hip Hop for the kids to listen to while they looked at Basquiat's work, to understand the inspiration for the rhythm of his work, was more challenging than I expected but I did it and some of the kids had a hard time staying in their seats while Run DMC and DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince filled the studio.
9 year old
I pointed out some of the messages Basquiat put into his work and asked the kids to point out some of the images they saw within the pieces that they were drawn too. Then they began their own artworks inspired by Basquiat's art.
They started by covering a very large piece of watercolor paper with pastel in colors of their choice. They then went over the entire paper with white paint while listening to the playlist of Hip Hop I had put together from Basquiat's era. I asked them to let the paintbrush "dance" to the music.
Then we put the artworks aside to dry and worked on a different project.
11 year old
The next morning, using black paint the kids created image shapes and pattern while once again listening to the music. I asked them to think about a message they would want to share with the viewer and for those children who didn't want to do a message, to figure out their own images inspired by the images they remembered from Basquiat's work.
10 year old
Again we put the paintings aside to dry once they were happy with the black acrylic paint they had added to their paintings.
7 year old
8 year old
Finally I brought out oil pastels and asked the kids to go back into their black images and add details inspired by the works created by Basquiat. They could also add words or anything else they wanted too.
8 year old
It was interesting to watch how each child interacted with this style of painting. Some wanted to find order within the work while others embraced chaos and went for it.
7 year old
I simply love the works created by the kids but then I'm a huge fan of Basquiat's art, although from the looks of the Christie's auction coming up, I will never have the opportunity to own one.
10 year old
I'm not sure all the parents will gravitate to this particular project when going through all the artwork their child created during the week, but in the words of DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, "parents just don't understand".
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