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Offset lithograph on folded paperboard. 1984, edition of 2,500. S. 31.0 x 31.0 cm (12 1/4 x 12 1/4 in.)
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Auction Date | Auction House | Location | Hammer Price | Return to Seller | Buyer Paid |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
February 2012 | Skinner, Boston | United States | |||
June 2011 | Wright | United States |
The Offs First Record is an offset print by Jean-Michel Basquiat produced in 1984. On this album sleeve print, the name of the band is repeated thrice across the image, including across the central figure’s torso. A skeletal figure with lines across one leg suggesting bandages stands above a triangular mound. The figure appears to float above the triangle, evocative of a Christ-like figure. This, together with the incomplete lines emanating from the figure, suggest upward movement.
Similar to Beat Bop / Test Pressing, the image is monochromatic but more sparse in composition, reminiscent in its simplicity to the artist’s Anatomy series. Whilst The Offs faded from the limelight unlike Basquiat, the band’s members were a staple in the New York Scene where up-and-coming stars such as Madonna and Debbie Harry were making their name. Upon the reissue of the record in 2019, iconic music promoter from the era Johnny Bower remarked that “they played a seminal role in the downtown scene in the early 80s in New York. They were close friends not only of Basquiat, but also Warhol, Patti Astor and many of the musicians and artists who haunted the Lower East Side in search of the miraculous”.
Jean-Michel Basquiat's unique visual style has dominated the Urban Art scene, securing his status as one of the most successful African-American street artists of the 20th Century. Addressing themes of race, identity and culture within his expressive works, his distinctive painterly style and use of child-like iconography changed the course of art history forever. Artworks such as Undiscovered Genius place controversial subjects at the forefront of his narrative. Despite his tragically premature death at the age of 27, Basquiat's impact on the art scene is exemplified through the increase of his market value in the years since.