Basquiat × Banksy

Basquiat × Banksy is an exhibition of two major paintings, one by Jean-Michel Basquiat (b. Brooklyn, New York, 1960–1988) and the other by Banksy (anonymous; b. near Bristol, England). Placed in dialogue, Basquiat’s Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump (1982) and Banksy’s response, Banksquiat. Boy and Dog in Stop and Search (2018), reveal throughlines among street art, contemporary art, and the popular imagination.​​ 

Basquiat × Banksy marks the first time that artwork by either artist has been presented at the nation’s museum of modern and contemporary art. The exhibition also includes 20 small works on paper and wood from the collection of Larry Warsh that were made by Basquiat between 1979 and 1985 and demonstrate the artist’s deep familiarity with art history, his use of language, and his signature motifs, such as skulls and crowns. The film Downtown 81 (shot in 1980–1981 and released in 2000), a send-up of the denizens of Manhattan’s ’80s avant-garde that stars Basquiat as a struggling artist named “Jean,” is also on view.

Accompanying public programs include a free hourlong lecture by Richard J. Powell, John Spencer Bassett Professor of Art and Art History at Duke University and a distinguished scholar of African American art and art of the African diaspora, at 6:30 PM on Oct. 10 in the Hirshhorn’s Ring Auditorium.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website