‘Basquiat’s Studio’ by Damian Elwes

‘Basquiat’s Studio’ by Damian Elwes is a digital archival print from a reconstruction of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s studio. Elwes first began painting artists studios in the 1980s, beginning with contemporary artists in Paris. Much later, after spending 7 years in the Columbian rainforest, Elwes returned to LA and recreated Picasso’s studio from old photographs by piecing them together like a jigsaw puzzle. That was the breakthrough painting and how it all began. Elwes has since made at least 200 paintings of artists studios including Matisse, Gauguin, Cezanne, Hockney, Liechtenstein and Haring.

As a young graffiti artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat was one of his heros and he met him at his retrospective at the ICA in the 1980s. Years later he re-created and painted his studio. This print is signed by the artist and numbered from an edition of 100.