Warhol On Basquiat:
The Iconic Relationship Told in Andy Warhol’s Words and Pictures 

Taschen

Warhol on Basquiat photographically documents the relationship between Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, from their first encounter in 1980 to their last in 1987. It offers a voyeuristic glimpse into the lives of two artists who shaped New York's downtown art world in the 1980s. For the book design, the two main elements we worked with were hundreds of Andy Warhol’s photographs and writings about Basquiat from Warhol’s diaries. Particularly with the arrangement of the photography, we pursued a comic book aesthetic. The photos were selected and arranged to complement the diary entries, selected collaborative artworks, and extensive ephemera. The book was produced in collaboration with TASCHEN, The Andy Warhol Foundation, and Jean-Michel Basquiat’s estate.

What is shocking and striking is the honesty of the photographs. Today, with social media we all share our lives online, but we do so in a very managed way, to project an image...the photographs are brutally honest. When you read Warhol’s text, he can be catty and gossipy. The photos are very similar.

Michael Dayton Hermann,
Andy Warhol Foundation, quoted in The Guardian

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