Jean-Michel Basquiat, Hollywood Africans, 1983

Narrator: Take a close look at this work by Basquiat. What do you notice about the composition? One thing you might see is lots of layers. Layers of color, layers of words. Have you ever noticed a wall on the city street with lots of posters and graffiti, layered together like this? Basquiat got his start as a graffiti artist in New York City. And when he made paintings on canvas, they still looked like art made on the street.

Maybe you’ve noticed that Basquiat crossed a bunch of words out. He did this to call attention to them. Like someone saying “don’t look at that!” and so you can’t help looking. One of the phrases he crossed out is Hollywood Africans, the title of the work. He made the painting while he was in Los Angeles with some friends – an experience that got him thinking about how Black people were limited to playing certain characters in movies. Some of the phrases on the canvas come from those stereotypes. He’s also labeled his own self-portrait, and the pictures of his friends, the rappers Toxic and Rammellzee.