The chaotic brilliance of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat - Jordana Moore Saggese

翻译人员: Melody Chen 校对人员: Lipeng Chen

A sky blue canvas ripped open by an enormous skull.

一张天蓝色的画布 被一只巨大的骷髅撕开。

Teeth bared through visceral slashes of oil and spray-paint.

油墨和喷漆用震撼人心的斜线条 勾勒出裸露的獠牙。

In 2017,

在2017年，

this untitled artwork was auctioned off for over 110 million dollars.

这幅无题的画作被以超过 一千一百万美元的高价拍出。

But it’s not the work of some old master.

但是这并不是哪个经典艺术大师的画作。

These strokes of genius

这幅震撼的创作

belong to 21 year old black Brooklynite Jean-Michel Basquiat –

属于一个名叫布鲁克林·琼-米歇尔·巴斯奎特 的21岁黑人男子——

one of America’s most charismatic painters,

美国最具魅力的画家之一，

and currently, its highest sold.

也是目前为止，作品成交量最高的一位。

Born in 1960 to a Haitian father and a Puerto Rican mother,

他出生于1960年，父亲是海地人， 母亲是波多黎各人，

Basquiat spent his childhood making art and mischief in Boerum Hill.

在波伦山，巴斯奎特的童年 在艺术创作和顽皮捣蛋中度过。

While he never attended art school,

虽然他从没有在艺术学院进修过，

he learned by wandering through New York galleries,

但是他通过徜徉于纽约艺术画廊，

and listening to the music his father played at home.

和听他父亲在家里弹奏音乐学习艺术。

He drew inspiration from unexpected places,

他常从意想不到的地方汲取灵感，

scribbling his own versions of cartoons, comic books and biblical scenes

随心所欲地涂鸦他个人版本的卡通， 漫画书和《圣经》中的场景

on scrap paper from his father’s office.

就画在从他父亲办公室拿来的草稿纸上。

But it was a medical encyclopedia that arguably

但有证据显示是一本医药百科全书

exerted the most powerful influence on Basquiat.

给了巴斯奎特最有力的影响。

When young Jean-Michael was hit by a car,

当年幼的琼-米歇尔遭遇了车祸，

his mother brought a copy of "Grey’s Anatomy" to his hospital bed.

他的母亲借来一本《格雷解剖学》 放在他的病床边。

It ignited a lifelong fascination with anatomy

这点燃了他一生对解剖学的狂热探求，

that manifested in the skulls, sinew and guts of his later work –

这表现在他日后作品中刻画的 头骨，肌腱和器官上——

which frequently explores both the power and vulnerability of marginalized bodies.

它们频繁地发掘出那些 被边缘化躯体的力量与脆弱性。

By 17, he launched his first foray into the art world with his friend Al Diaz.

到17岁时，他和朋友艾·迪亚兹共同发动了 对艺术世界的第一次“突袭”。

They spray painted cryptic statements and symbols all over Lower Manhattan,

他们用喷漆在曼哈顿下城区 勾勒令人费解的标语和符号，

signed with the mysterious moniker SAMO.

落款是神秘的绰号“SAMO”。

These humorous, profound, and rebellious declarations

这些幽默而不失深意， 充满叛逆气息的宣言

were strategically scattered throughout Soho’s art scene.

被战略性地大量引进了Soho的艺术镜头。

And after revealing himself as the artist,

在他公布自己艺术家的身份之后，

Basquiat leveraged SAMO’s success to enter the scene himself;

他借由SAMO的成功将自己也纳入镜头中；

selling postcards, playing clubs with his avant-garde band,

卖明信片，和他前卫派的乐队混迹于酒吧中，

and boldly seeking out his heroes.

同时大胆地寻找他心目中的英雄。

By 21, he’d turned to painting full time.

在21岁时，他成为了一个全职画家。

His process was a sort of calculated improvisation.

他的创作过程是一种 精密计算过的即兴发挥。

Like Beat writers

就像摇滚写手一样，

who composed their work by shredding and reassembling scraps of writing,

他们以撕碎并重组稿纸的方式进行创作，

Basquiat used similar cut-up techniques to remix his materials.

巴斯奎特使用类似的剪裁手段 来对素材进行重新整合。

When he couldn't afford canvases,

当他买不起画布时，

he fashioned them out of discarded wood he found on the street.

他就用在街上找到的废弃木板代替。

He used oil stick, crayons, spray paint and pencil

他用油画棒，蜡笔，喷漆和铅笔作画，

and pulled quotes from the menus, comic books and textbooks

从菜单，连环画甚至课本上截取片段

he kept open on the studio floor.

而这些书就被打开在他工作室的地板上。

He kept these sources open on his studio floor,

他一直都把这些信息源打开放在地板上，

often working on multiple projects at once.

常常同时进行好几个工作项目的创作。

Pulling in splintered anatomy, reimagined historical scenes,

融合了分裂解剖学和历史镜头的重现，

and skulls transplanted from classical still-lives,

还有从长盛不衰的经典作品中 “移植”下来的骷髅，

Basquiat repurposed both present day experiences and art history

巴斯奎特将当代生活经历与艺术史

into an inventive visual language.

化为一种别具一格的视觉语言。

He worked as if inserting himself into the legacy of artists he borrowed from,

他工作时就好像将自己代入了 他所借鉴的那些艺术家的遗赠中，

producing collages that were just as much in conversation with art history

创作出那些像能和艺术史对话一样

as they were with each other.

也能互相对话的拼贴作品。

For instance, "Toussaint L’Overture versus Savonarola"

比如说，这幅 《杜桑·卢维杜尔与萨佛纳罗拉》

and "Undiscovered Genius of the Mississippi Delta"

和《未被发现的 密西西比三角洲天才》

offer two distinct visions of Basquiat’s historical and contemporary concerns.

显示出巴斯奎特的 两种独特的历史和当代观念。

But they echo each other in the details,

但是它们在细节上互相呼应，

such as the reappearing head that also resurfaces in "PPCD."

比如这个重复出现的头颅 也重复出现在“PPCD”中。

All these pieces form a network that offers physical evidence

所有这些作品里的细节 构成了一张能够证明

of Basquiat’s restless and prolific mind.

巴斯奎特永不停息又丰富多产头脑的网络

These chaotic canvases won rapid acclaim and attention.

这些看似混乱不堪的画布 迅速赢得了称赞与关注。

But despite his increasingly mainstream audience,

但即使他的主流受众正加速扩展，

Basquiat insisted on depicting challenging themes

巴斯奎特坚持描绘极富挑战性的

of identity and oppression.

有关身份与压抑的场景。

Marginalized figures take center stage, such as prisoners, cooks and janitors.

被边缘化的人物形象占据画面中心， 比如囚犯，厨师和看门人。

His obsession with bodies, history, and representation

他对于身体，历史和表现手法的执迷

can be found in works evoking the Atlantic slave trade and African history,

从他唤醒大西洋奴隶贸易 和非洲历史记忆的作品中可见一斑，

as well as pieces focusing on contemporary race relations.

他聚焦现代种族关系的作品 也同样能很好地印证这一点。

In less than a decade,

在不到十年的时间里，

Basquiat made thousands of paintings and drawings-

巴斯奎特创作了成千上万的油画和画作

along with sculpture, fragments of poetry and music.

还有雕塑，诗歌片段和音乐。

His output accelerated alongside his meteoric rise to fame,

他的加速产出伴随着 昙花一现般的知名度激增，

but his life and work were cut tragically short

但他的生命和工作被无情地中断了，

when he died from a drug overdose at the age of 27.

他在27岁时即死于吸毒过量。

After his death, Basquiat’s work only increased in value-

在他死后，巴斯奎特的作品价值有增无减

but the energy and flair of his pieces

但他作品中洋溢的那种活力与天赋

have impacted much more than their financial worth.

比起它们的经济价值来说 具有更深远的影响力。

Today, his influence swirls around us in music, poetry, fashion and film-

直到今天，他的影响依然以音乐，诗歌， 时装和电影的形式萦绕在我们身边

and his art retains the power to shock, inspire, and get under our skin.

而他的艺术作品依然保持着给予我们 震撼，启迪，直击我们心灵深处的力量。