Four Big 1982

Jean-Michel Basquiat made this, ‘Four Big,’ with paint, marker, and collage on canvas. The raw energy, the city-like scrawl, the vulnerability… I can imagine Basquiat working on this: the yellow field probably came first, like a sunny background. And then those black symbols, the crown, the cross, the SBEStO. The letters look like he’s trying to teach us something, or maybe he’s just thinking out loud. It’s really physical, this painting. You can almost feel him pushing the paint around, layering image over image. And the colors—that bright yellow next to the muted blues and reds. There’s a kind of visual friction that just makes the whole thing vibrate. It reminds me of Cy Twombly’s mark-making, but also Philip Guston’s late paintings. These guys are all in conversation, you know? Trying to figure out how to make a painting that’s not just a picture, but an experience.