Description

Jean-Michel Basquiat,. Hollywood Africans in front of the Chinese Theater with Footprints of Movie Stars (Detail),1983/2015, 23-Color Screenprint on 4-ply Museum Board, 38 1/2 x 84 inches, Edition of 60. The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat is pleased to announce the release of a new Basquiat screenprint, Hollywood Africans in front of the Chinese Theater with Footprints of Movie Stars, published by Flatiron Editions. The release marks the first edition authorized by the estate since 2005. The edition of 60, which is related to the widely known 1983 artwork Hollywood Africans, owned by the Whitney Museum of American Art, depicts Basquiat with friends, the artists Toxic and Rammellzee. The subject of the work memorializes a time when all three artists were in Los Angeles during Basquiat's second exhibition at the Larry Gagosian Gallery. The work, a commentary on the stereotyping and marginalizing of African Americans in the entertainment industry, led them to coin the term and refer to themselves as the "Hollywood Africans".