Brett Gorvy, Co Founder Of Li Weige, Talks About Basquet'S "Beloved" Heart

In New York City in the 1980s, a well-dressed young black man stood on the street waving to taxis. One, two, three, four taxis that could carry passengers passed him as if they had not seen him. Finally, a taxi slowly approaching, the young man could not help but rushed to ask the driver why the empty car did not carry passengers. The driver murmured that the taxi company would not let them pull black passengers. And the driver who said that was black himself. Later, Jean Michel Basquiat mentioned the experience in an interview with wolkenkratzer art magazine, and the reporter asked him, "what would you do with such a thing?" He replied, "I can't do anything."

This happened in the United States 40 years ago.

Now, Basquet has become an inseparable name in the contemporary art market. Some people pay attention to him as a young black graffiti artist after World War II; some pay attention to his spending money after he became famous; some people pay attention to him as a close friend of pop master Andy Warhol; some people pay attention to him as Madonna's ex boyfriend; however, more people pay attention to his strong ability of "absorbing money" in the art market, making a painting difficult to obtain. From his fame in 1981 to his death in 1988, he created more than 800 oil paintings and 1500 sketches in his short and brilliant 27 years. His style is a mixture of Neo expressionism, primitivism, abstractionism and graffiti. In 2017, his untitled book was sold at auction for us $110.4 million, the sixth highest transaction volume in history; last month, busquet's another head graffiti, Untitled, sold for us $15.1 million in commission, setting the highest online auction record ever by the auction house.

Brett gorvy is an important art business leader in the international art world in the 20th century. From 2000 to 2016, he served as chairman and global top director of Christie's post war and contemporary art department. In 2017, he and Dominique L é vy jointly founded Li Weige gallery. In July this year, Li Weige launched a global education project "reveal". With the theme of "Jean Michel Basquet: the streets of heroism", Li Weige selected one of the three famous large-scale paintings "Untitled" which was created by Basquet with the theme of prophet in 1982. This painting is the only one in the exhibition to present Basquet's works for Asia The first gallery exhibition.

Brett gorvy, co-founder of Li Weige. Information map

"When you enter our Hong Kong space, you can immediately feel the unusual power of this painting, and even control the atmosphere of the whole room." Although he has experienced the works of numerous masters and new artists, Brett can not help but marvel at the energy beyond the limitations of different senses in Basquet's works in an exclusive interview with 21st century economic reporter recently. Brett reveals that Basquet has a pure heart that is always loyal to himself behind the chaotic and disorderly semi abstract composition and colorful and publicized strokes.

21st century: busquet's auction price has reached a record high in Sotheby's auction. Why does the price of his works continue to rise in the art market?

Brett: Basquet's work is a little special. Looking back on his artistic career, Basquet's paintings came to the fore in the exhibition New York / new wave in 1981, which attracted many people's attention. 1982 was a brilliant year for him, but he died at the age of 27. As an artist who died young, the response of the top art market to this is also very intuitive, and most of his paintings are in the hands of top collectors around the world. And many large private art collection foundations have also mastered Basquet's major works. You can imagine how much demand buyers will have for such a rare work when a large Basquet work appears in the market. In addition, his works echo our current life both emotionally and formally - for example, the recent black lives matter movement. Therefore, with the improvement of people's aesthetic level, people naturally pay more attention to the works of black artists.

The 21st century: Why did you choose Basquet's Untitled (1982) as the first work presented in the project of recognizing the precious?

Brett: I think there is such a concept behind the project of "recognizing treasures": a work of art, especially an important work of art by artists, can naturally become an "exhibition" of its own. We found an interesting phenomenon that Basquet's important works had never been formally brought to Asia. Even if the high price of Christie Bass's painting had been auctioned for 10 million dollars in New York, it had not been sold in Asia. Later, when Christie's sold its second high-priced work at auction, it was too large to tour. Therefore, we realize that it is of great significance for Li Weige to bring Basquet's large-scale and important works to Hong Kong for exhibition.

Li Wei pavilion exhibition hall. Information map

The 21st century: what is the innovation of his painting techniques compared with other expressionism predecessors?

Brett: busquet was famous at a time when people had a lot of new ideas about "figuration.". Looking back on the art history of the late 1970s, the most respected art types are the minimalist artists represented by Donald Judd and frank Stella.

But young artists like Basquet, with some direct and primitive feeling, graffiti on the street. At the same time, he naturally integrates the artistic inspiration from his mother's taking him to the museum for art edification, and shows the reorganization of chaos through his incredible painting ability. He is a completely primitive artist, and his paintings are himself. From his works, you can see what elements he absorbed and what artists influenced him. Basquet knows a lot about how different artists paint, but he's not imitating. He just feeds on them and creates his own language by absorbing their nutrients. Basquet never pretended. He tried his best to show the truth of himself and the roar of his heart, as if he were declaring "I am naked here".

21st century: Basquet once said that "king, heroism, and street" are his creative themes. How do we understand the relationship between these three words and him?

Brett: these three words, to some extent, are as refined as poetry, but the simple words have rich meanings. When I see the word "Wang", I always think of busquet drawing in an Armani suit. He had made so much money at the age of 22, but he didn't know how to spend it, so he splurged on luxury clothes, record collections and drugs. He enjoyed being emperor at the age of 22. But as in untitled, which is on display in Hong Kong space, it is a self portrait of a black hero with a Christian aura and a crown of thorns. Therefore, "Wang" is a combination of "Royal" and "hero", which is his own positioning.

While paying attention to the image of high social value, he also cast his eyes on the streets with low social status. Before his success in 1981, Basquet was just a street guy. After leaving home, he lived in the secluded and tortuous Bowery street in the lower east side of New York, where he was inspired by his creation.

If the image of paqueer and his warrior are between the two, if you look closely at the image of his hero and his warrior, you will find that the image of a hero in his painting is a part of Charley's image. But heroes and soldiers often end up with heroic sacrifice, and they will also become one of the victims.

The 21st century: American black culture runs through the theme of Basquet's creation. What message does he want to convey through his works? How will people be affected?

Brett: Basquet's theme was black hero, which was almost unprecedented in the western art world with white supremacy at that time. Today, we have curators and a larger group of artists to represent African American culture, but in the early 1980s, Basque was alone. Therefore, his works have a cross era significance. What's more, he has always insisted on the truth of himself and created his own works, just as the works show - a lone hero, a street fighter. To rebel is not to show one's own identity, but to show one's own strength.

It is obvious that many black museums need to display their own cultural diversity through their own themes. Large art museums like MoMA even sell some other collections to buy works by African American and female artists. This shows that we are in a period of re shuffling and achieving a new balance of all kinds of cultures, which will affect museums, galleries and art markets.

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