Julian Schnabel’s JMB is on display for a limited time as part of the exhibition Julian Schnabel: Art and Film.
The day fellow artist Jean-Michel Basquiat died, Schnabel painted this enormous tarpaulin work. In the upper right corner Schnabel inscribed the letters JMB and beneath it, in much smaller scale, the date Aug 12. This painting declares the enduring presence of the absent artist through the initials of his name, it commemorates the day of his death, and through its white paint, expresses a metaphor of Basquiat’s life lived – jagged, ascendant, infinite. In spare terms yet on a monumental scale, Schnabel achieves a funereal ode to another artist, which serves as a precursor to his first film.
You can hear the artist discuss his work by downloading the Julian Schnabel: Art and Film Audio Tour, FREE from iTunes.
Julian Schnabel
born New York City, New York, United States, 1951
JMB
1988
oil and gesso on tarpaulin
Private Collection, Italy; courtesy of Marco Voena, London-Milano