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ABOUT THE PUBLICATION
Edited by Dagon James
Coming soon from The Waverly Press.
Basquiat 1979–80–1 presents a rare photographic portrait of Jean-Michel Basquiat during the formative years preceding his emergence as one of the most influential artists of the late twentieth century.
Featuring photographs primarily by Bobby Grossman, with additional images by Edo Bertoglio, the book includes new contributions from Amos Poe, Claudia Summers, Richard Boch, Victor Bockris, Kai Eric, and Fred “Fab 5 Freddy” Brathwaite—all of whom knew Basquiat personally during this period.
Grossman first encountered Basquiat through the downtown New York community surrounding Glenn O’Brien’s groundbreaking public-access television program TV Party, where Grossman served as the official photographer. The program became a gathering place for the artists, musicians, writers, and performers who defined the city’s underground culture during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
His photographs capture Basquiat while he was developing his artistic identity through street work, the SAMO project, and his participation in the downtown art scene. Rather than presenting the celebrated figure documented in later portraits, Grossman’s images preserve a more intimate view of a friend and fellow participant in an extraordinary cultural moment.
The book also includes photographs by Edo Bertoglio, director of Downtown 81, the influential film starring Basquiat during these same years. Bertoglio’s images offer a complementary perspective on the young artist and the creative community in which his work was beginning to take shape.
Together, the photographs form a distinctive visual record of Basquiat before international recognition—a portrait of an artist at the moment when his imagery, voice, and creative identity were beginning to emerge.
