Cabeza
Cabeza
Unsigned Print
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Screenprint, 2004
Unsigned Print Edition of 85
H 139cm x W 101cm
Critical Review
Cabeza is a screen print in colours produced in 2004 by Jean-Michel Basquiat. This print depicts a portrait of a single figure against a vibrant yellow-orange backdrop. As in other pieces depicting bodies and faces, such as Head, there is a simultaneous depiction of the internal and external body, with a rib cage and an ambiguous organ drawn in white lines. A word of unknown meaning - Aopkhes - is written across the figure’s chest. A circle drawn onto the figure’s neck suggests an Adam's apple. As in many of Basquiat’s portraits, the figure bears a startled or shocked facial expression.
In its title, Cabeza recalls the iconic Dos Cabezas, a painting by the artist that depicts Basquiat alongside Andy Warhol. The piece can be seen as emblematic of the close working relationship and friendship which the two artists cultivated in the early 80s. It proved beneficial for Basquiat to be connected to such a highly-regarded figure in the New York art scene, yet the working friendship was not one-sided commercially, as Warhol also benefited from association with the up-and-coming neo-expressionist as his pop art prints and paintings everyday items began to lose favour with the art-buying audience.
