Friends and collaborators of Jean-Michel Basquiat are said to be “horrified” by his art being included in the latest Tiffany advertisement featuring Jay-Z and Beyoncé and they are speaking out.
Alexis Adler, who lived with Basquiat between 1979 and 1980, toldThe Daily Beast: "I'd seen the ad a couple [of] days ago and I was horrified."
"The commercialization and commodification of Jean and his art at this point — it's really not what Jean was about,"says Adler.“...most of his art is in private hands and people don't get to see that art except for the shows..."Loan it out to a museum. In a time where there were very few Black artists represented in Western museums, that was his goal: to get to a museum,”says Adler.
"They wouldn't have let Jean-Michel into a Tiffany's if he wanted to use the bathroom, or if he went to buy an engagement ring and pulled a wad of cash out of his pocket. We couldn't even get a cab,”said Basquiat’s former assistant Stephen Torton.
Torton also clarified to the blue that was included in the artwork saying,"The idea that this blue background, which I mixed and applied was in any way related to Tiffany Blue is so absurd that at first I chose not to comment. But this very perverse appropriation of the artist's inspiration is just too much."
Yikes.....
pic-getty