Pedestrian 2 1984

Jean-Michel Basquiat made "Pedestrian 2" with paint on canvas, and you can almost feel the energy crackling off its surface. Look at how he's laid down that fiery red background, like the whole world is burning. Then these slashes of green and the stark black figure emerging, or maybe dissolving, into it all. I imagine Basquiat, brush flying, not trying to represent, but to become the feeling itself, the raw, pulsing heart of the city. That yellow, like a flash of insight, or maybe madness, right there on the figure's face – it's like he's channeling something beyond words. It reminds me of Cy Twombly's scribbles, but with this whole other layer of street-wise poetry and a sense of urgency. You can see the history of painting echoing in the work, but it speaks to the here and now. That’s the thing about painting, it’s always in conversation with itself, always becoming something new.