Who Did This to Basquiat’s Old Manhattan Studio?

August 31, 2023

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Final weekend, an unidentified individual painted over the tribute-filled, closely graffitied façade of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s previous studio and residing area in Manhattan’s Bowery neighborhood with a shade of Pepto-Bismol pink.

A plaque honoring Basquiat on the constructing’s exterior was additionally smeared in pink paint. The incident was first reported by the native East Village information website EV Grieve on August 28.

In July, Hollywood star and philanthropist Angelina Jolie signed an eight-year lease on the 6,600 square-foot area for her new inventive enterprise, Atelier Jolie, via which she plans to help a global community of tailors. Atelier Jolie has not responded to Hyperallergic‘s request for remark.

The 2-story constructing at 57 Nice Jones Avenue as soon as belonged to Andy Warhol who had leased it to Basquiat as a studio and residing area between 1983 and 1988. After Basquiat’s premature demise, the constructing’s façade turned a collaborative shrine to his artistry with road artists from all around the nation making the pilgrimage to wheatpaste or tag its doorways and brick partitions for many years.

Whoever painted over the constructing coated the commemorative plaque devoted to Basquiat as properly.

This afternoon, August 31, a road artist by the identify of Doodlehedz was onsite making important progress in peeling away the layer of pink paint that was rolled over the constructing’s doorways and partitions. Based mostly in Harlem however working within the space, Doodlehedz heard about what occurred and made her method over after her shift and commenced hacking away with a small pocket knife.

“It’s simply so disrespectful to color over the plaque understanding what Basquiat means to us [street artists] and the group and the world and simply popular culture generally,” the incensed artist advised Hyperallergic as she peeled strips of pink-colored paper off the doorways, revealing colourful tatters of previous wheat-pasted messaging and designs beneath. “That is individuals’s coronary heart and soul, and this individual didn’t take into consideration that.”