Basquiat

When I first look at this diptych by Basquiat, I think of something that of a cave drawing. The tan background with the dark scribbles reminds me of the warnings, maps, or guides to life that we have found on ancient cave walls. Within the scribbles, there are images that are very repetitive, which lets me know that whatever message the artist is trying to portray, is important. Then my eyes go to the two faces on the panel. Do the two faces belong two different people? On the left panel, we have a large face with quite a surprised or almost frightened look. On his face, Basquiat has chosen to make the eyes two different sizes which only adds to the man's crazed look. The artist has also chosen to highlight the nose on the face by some sort of dark cloud with paint that the artist has allowed to drip down the canvas and onto the dark fave. Under the cloud, there are little patches of bright blue that peaks out, this makes me think of thunder in the middle of a storm. On the right panel, we have an elevated face that appears to be beaten. This face has a black eye, the noseis significantly smaller than the other facem and there appears to be something dripping out of his mouth as well as off of his face. Below this face we see the word "famous" in bold, all capital letters. Whether this piece is one man in two different stages of his life, or we're seeing two men, I believe this is being used as a warning to us. Perhaps this is far-fetched but the face on the left panel seems to be a man that is miserable or even going crazy as the world around him beats down on him. For the panel on the right, with the bold word famous and the elevated beaten face, maybe it implies that this man has struggled to become known by the world around him, he has finally achieved it but by his beaten face you can tell what he had to go through to get there. As a whole this piece could be a warning to us all. Be wary of the world around us and how society might pressure us to go through trials in order to become "famous."