In the manner of Jean-Michel Basquiat
American, 1960–1988
Self-Portrait with Earbuds, 2026
Acrylic and oilstick on canvas
183 × 244 cm
Never painted.
Commissioned for the collection, 2026.
PAB 2026.25.5
Moving, 16-second loop ·
A young man with a shaved head looks straight out through layers of blue and yellow, white earbuds in, a crown above him and a skeleton on either side. The writing around him says still here, bigger than the pain and, with a question mark, a better tomorrow. Basquiat painted himself crowned, haloed and furious. This one is quieter. The earbuds are doing some of the work.
The brief
A raw frontal self-portrait of a young Black man with a shaved head and white earbuds, an invented person who resembles no real painter, crown above, layered blue and yellow fields, scratched marks. 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.
