He produced a track, kind of an experimental Hip-Hop track, which was quite like his production. I think the film is very consciously of trying to reflect that through his friendships, through his artwork or even through his music. With Jean-Michel being present around the time of the budding Hip-Hop culture of yesterday, and then also becoming an icon within Hip-Hop culture of this era, how important was it for you to make sure that we had that essence of being aligned with rap culture in the documentary? The fact that Andy Warhol went to dinner in Brooklyn to visit the family and meet one of the sisters was just, you know, hard to imagine! Stumbling onto that story and actually being able to represent it was very fun. I didn’t know the nuances of a falling out, so for me that was all an absolutely fascinating part of the process.
I didn’t really know the details and the nuances of exactly how and when they met, as I didn’t really fully understand their friendship and the complexity of their relationship. I think the relationship he had with Warhol was really fascinating. It’s like, the closer I looked the more I found out, and the more convinced I was that he was a person really doing his best to be in control of his own destiny. His destiny was something that was very striking. I think the whole nature of Jean-Michel was so astute and determined to be in control of the song career and his own art.
The powerful impact that Michael Stewart case had on the sisters provide a context for a child who was just really motivated and engaged and creative almost from the beginning - it just puts it in an extremely, three dimensional context. I mean, it’s everything the sisters have to say. When working with the sisters, was there any pieces that you found directly compelling that they shared with you? Did anything hit you in your mind as someone who was coming up and working in that area that you may not have known before? In other cases, it was addressing the gaps within the work itself. There were a number of individuals who needed a lot of persuading to participate because it was, in some cases, a very painful aspect of their life. I think that was the real challenge, as it took a couple of months - two or three at most - before get them on board. I thought there was a missing emphasis on its work it was very important for me to try to get on his sister’s involved. What I found was missing was a real central focus, a more in-depth look at the work itself and what it was, what the thematic content was and what were some of the techniques. With so much of the other work at the time by Jean-Michel, I wanted to really find out what was missing from the story. What challenges did you have in telling this story?Ī number of challenges. BBC decided to commission a documentary and that’s how the project came up. So, there was work being planned on the anniversary of the very untimely death coming up. But the work of Jean-Michel, Francesco Clemente, and some other artists were beginning to persuade me otherwise. With my background, I was a conceptual artist and showing work in galleries, showing an experimental film in Downtown Manhattan.
I was of the belief at the time that painting was dead. I had lived and worked in Manhattan at the time, around the corner from his studio on Crosby Street. The Source: How did you get started in telling the story of Basquiat?ĭavid Shulman: The work of Jean-Michel Basquiat I was really familiar with. Jean-Michel Basquiat, one of the most influential American artists of the 20th century, is the subject of American Masters - Basquiat: Rage to Riches.
0 kommentar(er)
