Downtown 81

Jean Michel Basquiat in Downtown 81 (2000)

Message in a bottle from the 1980s, wandering the streets of New York with Jean-Michel Basquiat. The film Downtown 81 was shot before Basquiat’s big breakthrough, but it was not released until much later.

The last time I saw Jean-Michel Basquiat I was going home from work. As we walked toward each other in the subway, he stopped briefly at the first landing, whipped out a marker and rapidly wrote something on the wall, then went up to the second landing, where two cops emerged from a recess and collared him. I kept going.

“All of the books that talk about Annina Nosei giving Jean-Michel his first studio, that wasn’t actually true.”

This time capsule of bohemian New York distorts its representation of the city for reasons more loving than lazy.

Shop Downtown 81 Jean Michel Basquiat [DVD] [1981] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

At the Barbican, 2017