Jean Michel Basquiat, “Fallen Angel”, Acrylic and Oilstick on Canvas, 1981
Dominated by the figure of a large angel, rendered in staccatoed red, yellow and black lines, floating against a luminous blue background, “Fallen Angel” is a supreme example of Basquiat’s early artistic output. Paramount to the painting is the rapacious creativity and unrepentant vigor contained within each brushstroke.
The vivacious tonal qualities of the work represent a radical fusion of street drawing onto the Modernist canvas. The colors are not those of easel painting, obtained while learning a craft and constantly worked on. They are lively, swift colors of the street, both vibrant and fading, affixed and opposing. The unsophisticated, complex layers of paint and line contain an unrestrained primitivism that eschews high artistic conventions.