Brant Foundation Opens in New York with Major Basquiat Exhibition

The Brant Foundation inaugurated its second location in New York's East Village in March 2019 with a comprehensive exhibition dedicated to Jean-Michel Basquiat. The new space, a converted 1920s power plant at 421 East 6th Street, spans over 650 square meters across four floors, two gardens, and a rooftop terrace. Previously the studio and residence of artist Walter De Maria from the 1980s until his death in 2013, the building was renovated by Richard Gluckman of Gluckman Tang Architects. The exhibition, curated by Dieter Buchhart and previously shown at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, draws from the Brant Foundation's extensive Basquiat collection as well as private and institutional loans. Peter M. Brant, a longtime collector of Basquiat's work, noted the artist's deep ties to the East Village, where he lived as a teenager and began his career as a street artist under the pseudonym SAMO. The show includes iconic works such as an untitled 1982 painting that sold for a record $110.5 million in 2017, and traces Basquiat's career from early street-influenced pieces to later works incorporating wood, collage, and found objects. Highlights include Dos Cabezas (1982), a double portrait with Andy Warhol, and works honoring African American icons like Charlie Parker and Cassius Clay. The exhibition runs through May 15, 2019.