Rusting Red Car in Kuau 1984

Jean-Michel Basquiat made this painting of a rusting red car, probably in the 1980s, with oil paint on canvas. It looks like the painting came together intuitively, perhaps after encountering a scene, maybe in Hawaii, or maybe in his mind. There’s a bright orange sun and the red car, its form outlined in white, floating in a dark and abstracted setting. The paint is applied quite thinly, like a wash, allowing the colors to resonate with each other. Look at how Basquiat captured the windows: just a few white lines, filled with yellow color. And then the wheels, rendered as loose circles! I imagine Basquiat must have been thinking about urban life and his experiences of seeing old cars left to decay, but also about art history. When I look at this painting, I’m reminded of Cy Twombly, who also used spontaneous gestures to evoke a sense of lived experience. Artists are always in dialogue, picking up where others have left off. With its dynamic lines and bold use of color, this painting captures a fleeting moment, inviting us to contemplate the beauty in decay and the stories embedded in everyday objects.