Notary,

1983

The exposed stretcher bars with metal nails that surround each panel of this painting echo the raw immediacy of the images and words that Basquiat laid onto the canvas. He referenced astronomy (“PLUTO”), African art (sourcing the enigmatic phrase at the center from the book African Rock Art), and commerce (“NOTARY”). Basquiat explained that the drawing labeled “BUCKLE, ROMAN BRONZE” at the bottom of the composition was inspired by a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Some images and phrases repeat across the canvas; several versions of the word “PLUTO” run vertically down the left side of the composition. Rather than erase or paint over previous versions of a word, however, Basquiat simply crossed them out so that his revisions remain visible. The elimination of hierarchies—between draft and final, between African and Western European art—may in fact be the dominant theme of this work.

Jordana Moore Saggese, Professor, University of Maryland; Director, David C. Driskell Center for the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora