Jean-Michel Basquiat (American, 1960-1988) attributed/manner of the artist: Beast, acrylic on canvas, with crown signature verso, framed. Basquiat first achieved fame as part of SAMO, an informal graffiti duo who wrote enigmatic epigrams in the cultural hotbed of the Lower East Side of Manhattan during the late 1970's where the hip hop, punk, and street art movements had coalesced. Basquiat is considered a contributor to the neo-expressionist movement, a late-modernist style of art characterized by intense subjectivity and rough handling of materials. Basquiat used his paintings as a means of social commentary/criticism, often making attacks on power structures and systems of racism and focusing on dichotomies like wealth vs. poverty, integration vs. segregation and inner vs. outer experience.
