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Beyond the Frame
Everyone is dumping Basquiat
"Everyone is dumping Basquiat,” Ethel Scull said as we sat together at the Pierre Hotel having lunch. I looked at her and thought, how is that possible? He was the hottest young contemporary artist at the time of his death. A few years later, collectors weren’t so sure. Ethel turned out to be right. Collectors worried that museums were not supporting the work, not accepting Basquiat gifts—and MoMA and the Whitney didn’t have a Basquiat in their collections.
“How long did it take you to make this painting?”
Whenever I hear someone ask this question—at an opening, in a gallery, or during a studio visit—I cringe. I know it is the last question most artists want to hear. It suggests that the viewer is not engaged with the ideas behind the work or its visual qualities, but has already moved on to calculating its value. If an artwork took months or years to complete, perhaps it is worth the price—even though the price may not have been mentioned. If the artist made it in a morning, t
Patricia Shea
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