#basquaitnotebooks

[brooklynmuseum]

As part of tomorrow’s Art Off the Wall festivities, artist Leslie Kujo DuMouchel, the lead singer of King Holiday, presents an interdisciplinary performance that takes visitors on a trip through the places and phases of Basquiat’s life. From the Mudd Club that Basquiat frequented to the jazz music that he listened to while painting, the performance pays homage to the artist’s own influences in an effort to contextualize and celebrate his complex body of work. I sat down with Leslie to discuss the process of curating this performance with the Brooklyn Museum:

Who is King Holiday? King Holiday is a 10-piece astro soul band based out of Bed-Stuy, brooklyn. Our sound is heavily inspired by classic soul, psychedelic rock, jazz and funk. The pulse and energy of New York City also serves as a huge inspiration for us, and we utilize our day-to-day lives and experiences as subjects of our songs.

What inspires tomorrow’s performance? Basquiat is obviously at the core of this performance. We admire his social perspective and how that he expressed it in his works. The Unknown Notebooks has given the band even more insight into Basquiat and his artistic process, inspiring us to create musical and visual interpretations of the 1980s vibrant art scene. It almost feels like how actors prep for roles in specific time periods by really letting themselves fall into the character and place. Our band is comprised of all 80s babies, so it will be interesting to see how we interpret being a young adult in that era.

How have you honored Basquiat and his influences? Basquiat has influenced us to create outside the box and to take risks. We honor how he allowed his art to flow in so many directions and stretching art into new territory.

What do you hope audience members will take away from the experience? We hope the audience can walk away feeling inspired by our collective creativity and expression. We aspire to translate our inspiration in a way that the audience can relate to. We’re truly honored to be contributing to this homage to Basquiat, and we hope our expression helps keep Basquiat’s legacy alive for the next generation of artists to come.

The dynamic performance features music from 10-piece astro soul band King Holiday, TECLA, KASSA:PURUSH, and Ludwig Persik; dance by W.A.F.F.L.E. Crew; spoken word poetry by Kesed the Younger with musical accompaniment by Noah Dreiblatt (tenor saxophone), Jason Disu (trombone) and Cinque Ubangi Kemp (drum set); visual 3D projections by Cookie Catalino; narration by Clint Malik; and creative direction by Leslie Kujo and Sarah Sperling.

Posted by Margo Cohen Ristorucci

[thanksforcreating]

In November we went to see "Basquait and the Bayou" at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans. Fast forward to April...We went to "Basquait: The Unknown Notebooks at the Brooklyn Museum and found this page that made us smile. In April of 1988 Jean-Michel went to #NewOrleans for Jazz Fest. Perhaps this page is from that trip?! @brooklynmuseum #basquaitnotebooks #neworleansjazzfest #thanksforcreating #basquait (at Brooklyn Museum)

[tumtumpublishing-blog-blog]

#jeanmichelbasquiat #Haitian #artist #visionary #art #haitianart #basquaitnotebooks

[brooklynmuseum]

Seeing Jean-Michel Basquiat’s notebooks in this new exhibition will be exciting and a revelation in many ways. One has the sense of meeting a great artist on a personal level, while also observing the tremendous range and originality of his process unfurled for the first time—and in fact this is, the very first time, that these notebooks or anything approximating their number and range have been presented publicly. Encountering the 8 notebooks (160 disbound pages, composed by Basquiat between roughly 1980 and 1987)—which we have arranged page by page in a mostly chronological exhibition design—you can become immersed in Basquiat’s thinking, his engagement with the world, his often surreal narrative poems and subtle commentaries;  the things that mattered to him. And most of all his fascination with language, exploring the border between words and images, signs and phrases and symbols culled from the streets of New York, the radio, museums, television, history books. And the everyday experiences of getting dinner, going to the movies, making plans and reflecting on your place in the world.  

Although we don’t know precisely how many notebooks Basquiat produced and what he thought of them in relation to his studio production, there are many connections to be found between the notebooks and the larger scale works on view—a selection of 30 rarely-seen paintings, drawings, and collages, integrated with the notebooks throughout the show.

Posted by Tricia Laughlin Bloom