What Jean-Michel Basquiat’s ‘Defacement’ (1983) Means Today

In September of 1983, a 25-year-old man by the name of Michael Stewart died at the hands of a police officer in New York’s East Village. Stewart was a student at Pratt Institute, an artist, and Black. Jean-Michel Basquiat, also an artist, also Black, and physically resembling the dead man, heard the news. ‘[Stewart] could have been me’, he repeated. Basquiat painted ‘Defacement’ or ‘The Death of Michael Stewart’ soon after. It is a work that radiates anger and fear. It pleads for a renewed faith in humanity. George Floyd’s death in May of this year retains the echo of Stewart’s. As the world collectively remembers victims of racial violence, cultural outlets turn the spotlight onto artists of colour. But what did it mean to be a Black artist in 1983, and what does it mean 37 years later?

Neo-expressionist artist Jean-Michel Basquiat’s style is most easily described as ‘raw’. The paint is applied impulsively, as though the artist’s emotions could not be contained. This is the case for ‘Defacement’ as well. Splashes of pink make up the face of the policeman. His uniform is electric blue and his club is bright orange. He bares his teeth as he prepares to hit the Black figure. The Black figure, formed only from a few brushstrokes, stands between the first policeman and his colleague. ‘Defacement’ has no finished background, but it is complete. All that needs to be said is there. Within the larger context of Basquiat’s work, The Guardian has dubbed ‘Defacement’ his ‘most personal’ work, undoubtedly because it relates to the artist’s identity as a Black man. The fact that both Stewart and Basquiat are linked by Suzanne Malouk, whom both had dated, re-emphasises the personal connection of the piece. ‘Defacement’ hits the viewer like a tsunami - the lines of the painting feel like marks etched onto the skin.

Authority and empowerment are two recurring themes in Basquiat’s works. From the beginning of his career, masquerading as graffiti artist ‘Samo’, Basquiat had an activist vein. ‘Irony of a Negro Policeman’ and ‘La Hara’ both convey disgust towards the abuse of power in the police force. ‘Defacement’ relates very blatantly to the same issue. It is a look into the artist’s mind. It expresses the kind of trauma that affects many young African-American people today. There is a lack of support available to them. There is unfounded prejudice against them, that can be a death sentence. There is a fear of being arrested or injured by police. Authority and empowerment remain just as relevant as they were in 1983. Until racism and overt violence towards people of colour ends, much of contemporary Black art will continue to have this at its core. And this injustice, linked so closely to Basquiat’s identity, naturally affected the content of his work.

Yet, it has been said that Basquiat did not want to be defined, as an artist, by his Blackness. Throughout his career, the label of the ‘Black artist’ both advanced and slowed his success. His art was described as ‘primitive’, which is inherently racist. ‘Primitive’ eventually became ‘sophisticated’ when rich buyers requested works tailored to the colour scheme of their living rooms. During an interview in his studio, which was in art dealer Annina Nosei’s basement, Basquiat was asked about the rumor that he was imprisoned there. He seemed embarrassed to answer this. ‘If I were white, I would be an “artist-inresidence,”’ he said. Basquiat did not reject his Black identity, as is evident from his works. However, he was acutely aware of the implications of this label in the art world. Basquiat’s work is often categorized under great, contemporary African-American art, rather than the broader category of great art, which he would have preferred. It is true that the colour of an artist’s skin should not be their defining feature - their art should be. On the other hand, reclaiming this label establishes Black art in the white-dominated canon of art history.

Michael Stewart’s death inspired Basquiat’s ‘Defacement’, the same way George Floyd is inspiring art all around the world by artists like Banksy and Nathaniel Mary Quinn. Among Basquiat’s contemporaries were Keith Haring and Andy Warhol, both of whom created works with the same subject, but Basquiat prevails due to his identity as a Black man. However, at the time, he was reluctant to be commercially labelled a ‘Black artist’. ‘Black art’ was attached to unsavory preconceptions that he (understandably) wanted to avoid. ‘Defacement’ and other works broaching the subject of police brutality have induced empathy, that has produced change in the art world and beyond. Inclusivity and non-judgement have been highlighted. Perhaps, Basquiat would have embraced the label of the ‘Black artist’ had he lived until today.

WORDS BY OONA KAUPPI ART BY KEEGAN ADRULLIS