The Offs First Record
The Offs First Record
Unsigned Print
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Offset print, 1984
Unsigned Print Edition of 2500
H 30cm x W 30cm
Critical Review
The Offs First Record is an offset print by Jean-Michel Basquiat produced in 1984. On this album sleeve print, the name of the band is repeated thrice across the image, including across the central figure’s torso. A skeletal figure with lines across one leg suggesting bandages stands above a triangular mound. The figure appears to float above the triangle, evocative of a Christ-like figure. This, together with the incomplete lines emanating from the figure, suggest upward movement.
Similar to Beat Bop / Test Pressing, the image is monochromatic but more sparse in composition, reminiscent in its simplicity to the artist’s Anatomy series. Whilst The Offs faded from the limelight unlike Basquiat, the band’s members were a staple in the New York Scene where up-and-coming stars such as Madonna and Debbie Harry were making their name. Upon the reissue of the record in 2019, iconic music promoter from the era Johnny Bower remarked that “they played a seminal role in the downtown scene in the early 80s in New York. They were close friends not only of Basquiat, but also Warhol, Patti Astor and many of the musicians and artists who haunted the Lower East Side in search of the miraculous”.
