Sorry about the (almost) muted interview bits. UKposts lowered the volume of the interview weeks after the publication of the video, I assume for copyright reasons. I hope you can still enjoy the video and subscribe for more (unmuted) content! :)

"graffiti is the application of a medium to a surface" That man just described art

"Graffiti is not art. It is the application of a medium to a surface." You mean...like art?

Basquiat's own ex girlfriend/ longtime muse was dating Stewart at the time of his death as well. So it did hit incredibly close to home in that way. Her name is Suzanne Mallouk and she was a very vocal protester of police brutality at the time, and this prompted him to create this piece.

The way you examine art in a broader context and explore how it relates to culture, society, and history is amazing. This was such an amazing video, extremely well thought out and extraordinarily put together.

I've only just learned about this work but, is there not also a gruesome double entendre in "defacement?" The physical removal of face? I'm thinking about Emmett Till

The police should not be based on land protection but protection of people. That crime is not committed against property but on crime against people.

While travelling in South America I eventually started to notice the graffiti, and it occurred to me that if you really want to know the thoughts of a cities underrepresented, look at it's graffiti.

It's interesting that the word "defacement" is written simultaneously in English and Spanish [Edit: not Spanish. But it looks like it's written in two languages in the same place.]

6:19 as a black man(?) and artist myself i interpret the copyright symbol as a nod to slavery and the fact that we're still seen as less than human in the eyes of police. i agree on the taking ownership of the self interpretation, as its something we had to fight for and continue to fight for on a daily basis by people far more brave than i.

I attended an exhibition at the Guggenheim in NYC centered around this piece as well as others that referenced the murder of Michael Stewart at the hands of the NYPD. I live in NYC and remember when Stewart was murdered. Great vid.

I love love love your videos. I was introduced to Basquiat’s work from “Bird on Money” being used as the cover for The Strokes album, The New Abnormal. This piece of art, and it’s connection with Charlie Parker, has always felt special to me. Loved learning more about Basquiat via this video.

I love how he cut out harrings wall and got it out to himself -- graffiti artists always share walls over years of layerings but basquiat removed it from the cycle and created it as his own land

Legendary channel. Surprising it hasn’t blown up already!

This is awesome, I love how you speak of art not just in its lines and colors, but including the context and the artist's personality as being a part of the painting just as much as its physical aspect. I also loved your depiction of capitalism with the island analogy, I wish more people would see this

"The application of a medium onto a surface" is a good description of art...

“It’s the application of a medium to a surface....” I think you just made the defence case there buddy. Another brilliant video, your discussion on land ownership was genuinely educational and eye opening. Just thank god we don’t have to worry about police brutality anymore 🤫🤫

Always great vids guys, thank you!

Incredible and informative. Thank you!

I just wanted to let the canvas know that the way you articulate your interpretation and describe the meaning and history behind art works are fascinating thank you.

Amazing video. Very informative and interesting!🌟

I would add that the black figure in the painting has no face... and the word "defacement" as title shows that Basquiat was shocked by the use of this word "defacement" applied to a wall that doesn' have any "face" to justify the murder of a man who actually had a face... but had no face because only seen as "black man"... reason why Basquiat was saying that it could have been him, as black man, no matter if Basquiat's face was not the same as Stewart's face... and so the black figure in the painting has no face... because his murderers were not seeing his face but only the color of his skin, denying him humanity by denying him a face... while, according to the law of property that the murderers were protecting and the use of the word "defacement", they were protecting the "humanity" of the object that the wall is, granting humanity to a wall by giving it a "face" that it doesn't have to justify the murder of a man who really had a face because he really was a human being... and the face is really how you identify a human being... but was denied his humanity to become a "suspicious object with no face" called "a black man"... meaning that the law of property in its own words gives more humanity to a private object than to a black man... I think Basquiat was shocked by the murder... and by the use of the word "defacement" that grants "a wall with a copyright" with a "face" when the black figure in the painting who should have one... does not. Last element to sustain this interpretation, remember that Jean-Michel Basquiat was Haitian and was speaking French, and with French pronounciation, the word "defacement", without the "d", sounds like the French word "effacement" that is meaning "erasing" like the "erasing" of the face of the black figure in the painting... that is a paradoxical illustration and definition of what is racism... "racism is when the color of the skin erases the face of humanity". I love how Basquiat used to point very deep and complex issues in a very simple and direct way 😀... for some people, it can look like a bad drawing made by a child... but it's actually a masterpiece made by a great artist. 😀

Great video!!!!! Wow! You did amazing! Thank you friend ❤️❤️❤️

Thank you for making this video

Excellent videos and your knowledge of art history combined with your creative video editing makes for extremely entertaining and educational content. I don't think I have seen an art channel in the mainstream as good as this.

Beautiful video! Pls keep doing the good work👋🏻

Just an excellent review. So well done.

what a strong video!!

Graffiti is art, case closed

Thank you your breakdown of lawn n ownership n police was so brilliant simple concise n too the point

wow--never heard of either of these men. Thanks for the info! The Defacement piece is cutting.

Thank you. I have so much Norman Rockwell art. Mostly in the dorm of plates and mugs. I've only seen the first Ruby Bridges.i didn't know there were others. I have one poster of the political 4, the one where Norman is looking at the Abe Lincoln looking opposing speaker. I love Norman bC he represents innocence, but when I found out he did political paintings that just made me love his work more

"Graffiti is NOT art." "You see that over there? Is that art? Idk, I'm not an art critic."

incredible video

Love this!

Excellent. Loved it.

I love trains with Graffiti.

i don't know why i was thinking this was cyberpunk lore

How did this channel take so long to blow up?? I wish we could collab one day

They all said it could have been me too - there were thousands of kids just like them, they all felt like that, it was huge in New York. Then they knew tagging and the street art kids which Basquiat wasn't one of but did do his own thing, knew it was now life or death, so it became a totally clandestine activity - people like Fab 5 Freddy were in danger - some turned to the art world and legal murals after that, some kept being tag ninjas. Basquiat was more like "Han Shan" (cold mountain) in his practice of phraseology.

incredible.

I'm not sure if I think Rob zombie mentioned that event in a Joe Rogan interview

Dinosaur analogy is more describing feudalism than capitalistic private ownership

Alright Mr. "It's not an art form" let's see your tag. Enjoy your 40% beaten wives

Michelle Shocked wrote a song about Stewart's murder called Graffiti Limbo.

Graffiti is art And I'll die on that hill no matter what

2:30 did into the spider verse refrenve this piece?

"I'm not an art criminal"

“Black body”? What a dehumanizing way to refer to people…

Thank you for this video! It covers and conveys so much! :)

Get him to 500k. I’m not asking.

Nice coconut island analogy.

🤔

I thought the art and your storytelling and honestly even your explanation of why you think we should kinda abolish the system of property was good. But I do still disagree and for a major reason(s). 1. The idea of property in the United States in a way is culturally important. As it represents the idea of yourself, your land, and freedom of others intrusion on that land. Freedom is a core value of any American and to get rid of the idea of property, ownership, and rent I would call not only economically destructive but culturally destructive as well. 2. The process of your idea of abolishing the notion of property would not be easy either. As I said culture plays a big role and to try and abolish that system in a representative democracy would probably not work. That’s because an abolishin of the current system of property would lead to a destruction of the Union or another civil war as the existence of property is so close to the core values of American society. I think as we are a collection of states that topic would just be so incredibly divisive, especially as more and more go to the city and less live in rural areas.

I understand that Graffiti is forbidden, because the surface, it's applied on, usually doesn't belong to the artist...

Are you sure Picasso didn’t draw that?

FYI Michael Stewart was NOT a graffiti artist and was NOT known to tag.

They are Locs

I think Rob Zombie was witness to that murder

i bet homeboy faught with the cops

Someone explain to this guy how much a basqueat and a banks goes for

Graffiti is a crime, subject to summary beating by cops. Got it.

man pointed out karl marx. THAT A RED FLAG🚩

5:48

I have no idea if this interpretation is supported by scholars (tho I’m pretty sure it is) or if it’s just common sense, but I have an extra word on this private property. Basically, private property isn’t just your home (in fact, that’s personal property), but the means of production. So don’t think you’re bourgeoisie just because you have a house, a car and a nice salary - because you’re not self sufficient (you have to pay taxes and buy food) and you don’t have accumulated wealth. The middle class is proletariat, not bourgeoisie.

Wat

Obviously, this is a tragic story, but I think the video would have been more impactful if you left out the economic theory. I grew up in a post communist country and I can tell you that in practice, when a large number of people who don't know each other own something collectively, it is as if nobody owns anything. That's one of the key things your thought-experiment neglects. Everything communal falls into disrepair because there is no insentive to invest time and effort into it. If you do more, others will do less and you will not benefit from your extra effort. With a group larger than a family (where people know each other and have strong personal bonds), the only insentive to work for the "common good" is the threat of violence. Protection of private property and markets are the reason people can go work without a gun to their head and the fear that other people will steal their dinner, because after all, it belongs to them too. You don't need to destroy civlization to stop racism.

Maybe the remaining people wouldn't starve if they worked for the land owners and got a portion of food for their work, after all they're all in this together, kumbaya and all that. I mean they wouldn't have to manage everything to do with the incredibly complex process of farming and perhaps the land owners accumulate more land because they're better at farming, and not everybody owning everything with a majority not knowing anything about farming.

neolibs loosing their mind rn

I enjoy your videos and insight. I feel I must point-out that It's unfortunate Communism and or Marxist ideas do not work though. It ultimately ends with more inequality and suffering than almost any other form of government tried in history, and there are numerous examples to point too across many different cultures that attempted it. How many tens of millions of people need to die before left-wing 'intellectuals' will consider that they could be wrong? Basquiat's paintings are interesting and inspiring, and I do enjoy this one, but like many great artists in history, thank god they aren't in-charge of policy. We would all be living in North Korea.

are you really trashing the concept of property my guy ?

Wasn't it the case that grafitists got the choice of a kicking or a mark on their record? And basquiat was shit - with the choice of artists on offer why did they choose him?

Don't paint shit on other peoples stuff without their permission ffs

you have to admit, great message but horrible art, and i love abstract expressionism

Shit art but pretty good video lol

We can’t hear the mayor speaking, music is bad, the explanation about private propriety is totaly out of context. Very bad. Won’t recommend.

No Basquiat didnt make the painting basic and simple intentionally, he did it this way bc thats the best he could do. Basquiat was a terrible artist whos success is 100 defined by its massive body of repetitive work. Ill never understand the 80s NY definition of art

Basquiat was a bad artist lmao