The exhibition 'Basquiat x Lee Jaffe'
covers the early career of one of the most important street
artists of all time through the lens of multifaceted New York
artist Lee Jaffe.
Jaffe met American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)
in the early 1980s, and photographed him during numerous
journeys through Japan, Switzerland, and Thailand.
The two also spent mutually inspiring time together in
Basquiat's New York studio. Here the late Neo-Expressionist
graffiti writer and painter filmed Jaffe while he was in the
process of creating a sculpture called 'Inverted Oak'.
Jaffe's photos provide an intimate glimpse into Basquiat
when he had not yet been swept up into the vortex of stardom on
the New York art scene, where he would soon be hanging out with
the likes of David Bowie, Andy Warhol, and a girlfriend who
would later be known to the world as Madonna.
Jaffe's work is in such collections as those of the MOMA
and the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Tate Gallery in
London and the L.A. County Museum of Art.
The show will run from May 5 to June 11 at Bologna's ONO
Arte Contemporanea gallery.
The exhibition includes 15 of Jaffe's photos and was
sponsored by the Bologna city council.
On May 4, Jaffe will hold an event on street art and New
York in the 1980s.
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