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In Bird as Buddha the artist knowingly aligns himself with an art-historical tradition that he rarely confronted: formalised portraiture, as opposed to the artist’s more frequent études or studies of figures. This is further substantiated by Basquiat’s ironic title, referring humorously to a history of painters’ tendencies to paint their subjects ‘as’ something else. Parker himself is totally unrecognisable without Basquiat’s titular accompaniment, scrawled on the back of the canvas. His face itself, distorted beyond recognition, supposedly depicts the mergence of Parker with Siddhārtha Gautama, known later as the founder of Buddhism. Almost comic in its representation, with its lurid grimace purporting to be a wide, beaming grin that arguably embodies Parker’s buoyant, extroverted personality and lifestyle, the portrait is both vivid and expressive in fusing the two visages. In combining the Buddha, his religious principles of ‘samsara’ (the transferral of energy after death), with Parker, whose tragic death at a young age shook the jazz community, Basquiat explores the cyclical nature of art; he positions himself as an inheritor of artistic energy – the next to carry the baton - within the tradition of genre-defining artists. Parker’s presence on the canvas is a sign of religious reverence for the artist; Basquiat chose to resurrect the jazz icon nearly thirty years after his death, embracing him not only as a source of inspiration but also pioneer, as a fellow artist destined to pave the way in breaking tradition.

Bird As Buddha - Jean-Michel Basquiat - Neo Expressionist Painting

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Bird As Buddha - Jean-Michel Basquiat - Neo Expressionist Painting Poster
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Bird As Buddha - Jean-Michel Basquiat - Neo Expressionist Painting Poster
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Bird As Buddha - Jean-Michel Basquiat - Neo Expressionist Painting Art Print
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Bird As Buddha - Jean-Michel Basquiat - Neo Expressionist Painting Art Print
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Bird As Buddha - Jean-Michel Basquiat - Neo Expressionist Painting Art Print
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Bird As Buddha - Jean-Michel Basquiat - Neo Expressionist Painting Art Print
Rolled • 25x30 inches

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Bird As Buddha - Jean-Michel Basquiat - Neo Expressionist Painting Canvas Print
Rolled • 10x12 inches

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Bird As Buddha - Jean-Michel Basquiat - Neo Expressionist Painting Canvas Print
Rolled • 15x18 inches

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Bird As Buddha - Jean-Michel Basquiat - Neo Expressionist Painting Canvas Print
Rolled • 20x24 inches

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Bird As Buddha - Jean-Michel Basquiat - Neo Expressionist Painting Canvas Print
Rolled • 25x30 inches

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Bird As Buddha - Jean-Michel Basquiat - Neo Expressionist Painting Canvas Print
Wrapped • 10x12 inches

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Bird As Buddha - Jean-Michel Basquiat - Neo Expressionist Painting Canvas Print
Wrapped • 15x18 inches

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Bird As Buddha - Jean-Michel Basquiat - Neo Expressionist Painting Canvas Print
Wrapped • 20x24 inches

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Bird As Buddha - Jean-Michel Basquiat - Neo Expressionist Painting Canvas Print
Wrapped • 25x30 inches

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Bird As Buddha - Jean-Michel Basquiat - Neo Expressionist Painting Canvas Framed Print
Framed • 10x12 inches

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Bird As Buddha - Jean-Michel Basquiat - Neo Expressionist Painting Canvas Framed Print
Framed • 15x18 inches

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Medium Size

Medium Size

Bird As Buddha - Jean-Michel Basquiat - Neo Expressionist Painting Canvas Framed Print
Framed • 20x24 inches

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Bird As Buddha - Jean-Michel Basquiat - Neo Expressionist Painting Canvas Framed Print
Framed • 25x30 inches

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Bird As Buddha - Jean-Michel Basquiat - Neo Expressionist Painting Framed Print
Framed With Mat • 10x12 inches

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Bird As Buddha - Jean-Michel Basquiat - Neo Expressionist Painting Framed Print
Framed With Mat • 15x18 inches

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Bird As Buddha - Jean-Michel Basquiat - Neo Expressionist Painting Framed Print
Framed With Mat • 20x24 inches

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Bird As Buddha - Jean-Michel Basquiat - Neo Expressionist Painting Framed Print
Framed With Mat • 25x30 inches

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Bird As Buddha - Jean-Michel Basquiat - Neo Expressionist Painting Poster
Rolled • 24x30 inches

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Bird As Buddha - Jean-Michel Basquiat - Neo Expressionist Painting Poster
Framed • 24x30 inches

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Bird As Buddha - Jean-Michel Basquiat - Neo Expressionist Painting Large Canvas Print
Rolled • 30x36 inches

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Bird As Buddha - Jean-Michel Basquiat - Neo Expressionist Painting Large Canvas Print
Wrapped • 30x36 inches

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Bird As Buddha - Jean-Michel Basquiat - Neo Expressionist Painting Large Framed Print
Framed With Mat • 30x36 inches

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In Bird as Buddha the artist knowingly aligns himself with an art-historical tradition that he rarely confronted: formalised portraiture, as opposed to the artist’s more frequent études or studies of figures. This is further substantiated by Basquiat’s ironic title, referring humorously to a history of painters’ tendencies to paint their subjects ‘as’ something else. Parker himself is totally unrecognisable without Basquiat’s titular accompaniment, scrawled on the back of the canvas. His face itself, distorted beyond recognition, supposedly depicts the mergence of Parker with Siddhārtha Gautama, known later as the founder of Buddhism. Almost comic in its representation, with its lurid grimace purporting to be a wide, beaming grin that arguably embodies Parker’s buoyant, extroverted personality and lifestyle, the portrait is both vivid and expressive in fusing the two visages. In combining the Buddha, his religious principles of ‘samsara’ (the transferral of energy after death), with Parker, whose tragic death at a young age shook the jazz community, Basquiat explores the cyclical nature of art; he positions himself as an inheritor of artistic energy – the next to carry the baton - within the tradition of genre-defining artists. Parker’s presence on the canvas is a sign of religious reverence for the artist; Basquiat chose to resurrect the jazz icon nearly thirty years after his death, embracing him not only as a source of inspiration but also pioneer, as a fellow artist destined to pave the way in breaking tradition.

Jean-Michel Basquiat emerged from the "Punk" scene in New York as a gritty, street-smart graffiti artist who successfully crossed over from his "downtown" origins to the international art gallery circuit. In a few fast-paced years, Basquiat swiftly rose to become one of the most celebrated, and possibly most commercially exploited American "naif" painters of the widely celebrated Neo-Expressionism art movement.   Basquiat's work is one of the few examples of how an early 1980s American Punk, or graffiti-based and counter-cultural practice could become a fully recognized, critically embraced and popularly celebrated artistic phenomenon, indeed not unlike the rise of American Hip Hop during the same era.

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