In the manner of Jean-Michel Basquiat
American, 1960–1988
Untitled (Gig), 2026
Acrylic and oilstick on canvas
183 × 244 cm
Never painted.
Commissioned for the collection, 2026.
PAB 2026.25.1
← Hawthorn in Blossom, Filmed Anatomy of a Hand Holding a Phone →
A skeleton on a bicycle, a delivery box on its back with a crown drawn on the lid, rides through a storm of crossed-out prices: $12.99, $9.99, $6.50, $4.99. A list at the left runs food, money, time, life. The words at the right say faster, cheaper, better, happier. Basquiat crowned the people the city looked past. This rider gets several crowns and no tip.
The brief
A raw skull-headed figure on a bicycle with a delivery bag, crossed-out scrawled price tags and arrows around it, a three-pointed crown above, yellow and black. Neo-expressionist painting in acrylic and oilstick, raw urgent figures with skull-like heads and exposed anatomy, scrawled crossed-out words and symbols, three-pointed crowns, arrows and lists, layered colour fields of yellow, red, blue and black on raw canvas, drips and smears, wooden stretcher bars visible at the edges. Museum photograph of the painting on rough canvas, flat even lighting, no frame, no wall, no floor, cropped to the canvas edge.
Written to the house rules. The painter's name does not appear.
Take it home
The painting on this room's wall, at its own proportions, nothing written on it.
