Job Analisis 1983

Jean-Michel Basquiat made Job Analysis with paint and mixed media, and the first thing that strikes me is this bold contrast, this central gash of black bisecting the canvas. It’s like looking at a palimpsest, you know, where the artist layers images and text, scratching and scrawling as if in a frenzy of mark-making. The surface feels agitated, restless, a hive of activity. And then there's this big sword motif smack in the middle—it almost feels like a superhero logo, but with a darker edge. Basquiat was super interested in semiotics, like how images and words become signs. He samples text and images from the world of commercial graphics, mid-century modern cartoons, and so on. The energy of this piece reminds me of Cy Twombly’s work—this sense of raw, unfiltered expression, like a jolt of electricity through the canvas.