Artists Pay Homage To Basquiat On 30th Anniversary Of His Death

LOWER EAST SIDE, NY — A pair of artists paid homage to Jean-Michel Basquiat by pasting a tribute to the legendary artist on a Lower East Side building where he lived and worked on the anniversary of his death.

Sunday marked the thirty year anniversary since Basquiat died of a heroin overdose at 27-years-old. In homage to the young painter, who first achieved fame as part of the graffiti duo SAMO, fellow street artist and SAMO co-creator Albert Diaz and photographer Adrian Wilson transformed the facade of 57 Great Jones Street into a salute to the counter culture icon.

The mural features a silhouetted Basquiat, who was born and raised in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and reads, “I didn’t sign up 2 be used as a face 4 selling brand named crap!” and continues with “SAMO© 4 the continually inspired & eternally inspiring.”

Photos and video shared on Adrian Wilson's Instagram shows the pair creating the mural.

A plaque installed by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation also commemorates the building, stating, “From 1983 to 1988 renowed artist Jean-Michel Basquiat lived and worked here, a former stable owned by friend and mentor Andy Warhol. Basquiat’s paintings and other work challenged established notions of high and low art, race and class, while forging a visionary language that defied characterization.”

Controversy has surrounded Basquiat's work in recent years, with some of the price tags of his paintings soaring to outrageous sums including one painting called "Untitled," which sold in May, 2017 for a whopping $110.5 million — the highest sum ever paid at auction for a U.S.-produced artwork.

Photo courtesy of Caroline Spivack/Patch