I saw a tweet from this cool designer/DJ named Kesh where she stated that Basquiat is basically rolling over in his grave because Reebok has a deal with the Basquiat estate to produce sneakers inspired by his artwork. These new designs are a lot better than the original incarnation, but that's not what this post is about.
Kesh made me think, would Basquiat be pissed if he knew about Reebok doing this? I am not so sure. First off, back in the 80s these types of deals were VERY rare so I don't think he would have been offered anything like this back then. But for argument's sake, let's say Adidas would have approached him in his heyday. What would Basquiat have done?
I think Jean Michel takes the deal. He would do it because he was a hip hop head as much as he was an art world darling (he produced a hip hop single called "beat bop" and was inspired by graffiti initially). But he would find a way to add his particular nuance to it, and Adidas (Reebok was too small back then to make such an offer) would either be cool with it or walk away (i.e. write adidas somewhere on the sneaker and cross it out. these days, they would maybe be cool with that; back then they would bounce).
What if he would still be alive? Part of me thinks he would not do it. Just because he wouldn't have to. His rightful place in art history would be established and in my opinion he would have already moved on to making movies and more music (this is if he would have been able to kick the heroin.)
But another part of me says he most definitely would, for the same reason I outlined in the previous article. Everyone is making these types of deals. when is the last time something like this was even considered "selling out"? It no longer is, for better or worse.
I consider Basquiat my idol, so when Reebok comes out with sneakers and Uniqlo comes out with t shirts, it would be easy to dismiss it. But his legacy does not belong to me, it should belong to everyone. The more people know about his genius, the merrier in my humble opinion.
Posts
