Marie Gicquel, edited by Laura Laplaud 10:53 am, April 04, 2023
An exceptional exhibition awaits you at the Philharmonie de Paris until July 30th, that of the painter Jean-Michel Basquiat and his relationship to music "Basquiat Soundtracks". The exhibition explores the paintings of the American painter, a great record collector, who listened to the world around him.An exhibition that can be looked at and listened to. The Philharmonie de Paris pays tribute to Jean-Michel Basquiat, a great music lover. The painter had a huge collection of records and had a very special relationship with his playlist, very varied.
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A collection of 3,000 records
Classical music, such as Maurice Ravel's Bolero or the tunes of Maria Callas, reggae, Charlie Parker's solos, or American hip-hop... Jean-Michel Basquiat had a choice in his collection of 3,000 records. It was impossible for him to paint in his studio in New York without a sound atmosphere. "He put a record on the turntable, or he turned on the radio, the TV," says Vincent Bessières, curator of the exhibition.
"From time to time, there were things that went from sound to canvas. There are quotes like that that are explained simply because he heard the words on TV and he wrote them directly into the work he was doing.
An often sonorous painting
In Basquiat's paintings, we find this sound in his open mouths with large teeth. "There are a lot of characters who make noise, who hit each other, who shout, who sing. The painting itself is visually sound." A screaming painting put forward by the Philharmonie de Paris which offers a spectacular scenography, as if this revisited workshop of Basquiat had been transformed into a nightclub or jazz club of the 1980s.