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Defacement (The Death of Michael Stewart)

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Defacement
The Death of Michael Stewart
ArtistJean-Michel Basquiat
Year1983
MediumAcrylic and marker on wood
SubjectDeath of Michael Stewart
Dimensions63.5 cm × 77.5 cm (25.0 in × 30.5 in)
OwnerCollection of Nina Clemente

The Death of Michael Stewart, known as Defacement, is a painting created by American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1983. The artwork is Basquiat's response to anti-Black racism and police brutality. It memorializes the death of Michael Stewart at the hands of New York City Transit Police for allegedly writing graffiti in the subway. No graffiti was found, according to Stewart’s girlfriend at the time of his death, Suzanne.

Background

Aspiring artist and model Michael Stewart was arrested by transit police for writing graffiti in the First Avenue station of the New York subway on September 15, 1983.[1] He was brought to Bellevue Hospital hogtied and in critical condition. After thirteen days in a coma, Stewart died from his injuries on September 28, 1983. His death sparked outrage concerning police brutality. Jean-Michel Basquiat was deeply affected by the story and said to friends that "it could have been me."[1] He had started off as a street artist writing graffiti as SAMO.[2] Basquiat was not close to Stewart, but they shared a circle of friends. At the time of his death, Stewart was dating Basquiat's former girlfriend, Suzanne Mallouk.[3][4] Basquiat painted Defacement on the wall of artist Keith Haring's NoHo studio days after Stewart's death. Haring cut the artwork out of the drywall when he moved out in 1985.[2] He had Sam Havadtoy add an ornate frame a year after Basquiat's death in 1989. It was hanging above Haring's bed at the time of his death in 1990.[5]

Analysis

Defacement depicts two pink-faced policemen in blue uniform, one with sharp predator teeth, with batons clobbering a black silhouette. The word "¿DEFACEMENT©?" is written above them. The shadowy figure is Stewart, but it could also represent any black man who has been brutalized by the police. The tags of graffiti artists Daze and Zephyr are on the artwork.[6]

While Stewart was still in a coma, artist David Wojnarowicz created a flyer for a rally protesting Stewart's then "near-murder" in Union Square on September 26, 1983.[7] The flyer portrays the officers with skeletal faces beating a handcuffed black man with batons. It was taped all around downtown which may have inspired Basquiat's Defacement painting.[8]

In the years since Defacement was created, it has taken critical resonance with the Black Lives Matter movement.[9]

Exhibitions

Defacement was never sold and has seldom been displayed in public. It is owned by Nina Clemente, Keith Haring's goddaughter and daughter of the Italian painter Francesco Clement.[5]

In 2016, Chaédria LaBouvier, an independent curator, partnered with her alma mater Williams College Museum of Art in Massachusetts to bring the painting to the campus. It hung in the Reading Room, which is part of the college's first library.[9] In 2019, LaBouvier organized Basquiat's 'Defacement': The Untold Story at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. The exhibit centered around the painting and the reaction of the downtown community to the death of Michael Stewart. Artwork by Stewart was displayed for the first time.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Nielson, Erik (September 16, 2013). "'It Could Have Been Me': The 1983 Death Of A NYC Graffiti Artist". NPR. Archived from the original on 2015-05-23. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
  2. ^ a b Schjeldahl, Peter (27 June 2019). "Basquiat's Memorial to a Young Artist Killed by Police". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
  3. ^ McClinton, Dream (June 28, 2019). "Defacement: the tragic story of Basquiat's most personal painting". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 2019-06-28. Retrieved 2021-01-19.
  4. ^ Haden-Guest, Anthony (November 1988). "BURNING OUT". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on 2020-04-19. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
  5. ^ a b c Mitter, Siddhartha (July 30, 2019). "Behind Basquiat's 'Defacement': Reframing a Tragedy". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
  6. ^ Solomon, Deborah (June 28, 2019). "Review: A Better Basquiat Show". WNYC. Archived from the original on 2019-06-29. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
  7. ^ Sam, Ben-Meir. "Basquiat's Story We Need to Hear". Jacobin. Archived from the original on 2019-08-29. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
  8. ^ Shaw, Anny (February 18, 2019). "How a protest poster by David Wojnarowicz may have inspired Basquiat's Defacement". The Art Newspaper. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
  9. ^ a b "Basquiat's Defacement (The Death of Michael Stewart) becomes the centerpiece of conversations about Black Lives Matter at WCMA". Williams College Museum of Art. Retrieved 2020-09-21.

Further reading

Chaédria LaBouvier, Nancy Spector, J. Faith Almiron. Basquiat's Defacement: The Untold Story, 2019. ISBN 9780892075485

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