Jean-Michel Basquiat (b. 1960, New York; d. 1988, New York), Six Crimee, 1982. Acrylic and oil stick on masonite, 72 x 144 in. The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, The Scott D. F. Spiegel Collection.

 

“Six Crimee comprises three panels that present six haloed black male heads against a background of energetic green brushstrokes. The work’s visual vocabulary is paradigmatic of Neo-Expressionist painting of 1980s New York, while its schematic lines and symbols are reminiscent of the graffiti Basquiat scrawled on building façades throughout lower Manhattan when he was involved with that movement” (Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles)