King Alphonso, 1982-83/2025

Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960–1988) remains one of the most iconic and influential artists of the late twentieth century, celebrated for his raw, expressive fusion of image, text, and symbol. Rising from the streets of downtown New York as part of the late-1970s graffiti movement, Basquiat transformed the language of urban experience into a powerful visual narrative that addressed race, identity, power, and art history. His work combines the spontaneity of street art with the intellectual rigor of modernist painting, creating compositions that pulse with rhythm, urgency, and poetic fragmentation. Despite his brief career, Basquiat redefined what it meant to be a contemporary artist—bridging high and low culture, intellect and instinct, chaos and control.

King Alphonso (1982–83 / 2025) captures the vitality and complexity of Basquiat’s artistic voice. Produced as a screenprint in colors measuring 29 × 39 inches (73.7 × 99 cm), this limited edition of 60 bears the official stamps of The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat and the signatures of Lisane Basquiat and Jeanine Heriveaux, the artist’s estate administrators. The composition channels Basquiat’s fascination with kingship, self-mythology, and the assertion of Black identity within the hierarchies of history and art. With its vivid palette, layered mark-making, and symbolic intensity, King Alphonso stands as a powerful continuation of the artist’s legacy—bridging his original 1980s imagery with a renewed presence in the contemporary moment.