Original Warhol Basquiat Palladium Poster

This poster was printed for actual use as admission to the VIP after-party, post-art opening of Warhol and Basquiat’s collaborative exhibition at the Tony Shafrazi gallery. The show displayed just 16 collaborative paintings created between Warhol and Basquiat over a short period bridging 1984 to 1985. Oddly, it was a financial failure, and the fallout from this debacle would signal the beginning of the end of the friendship between the two artists. They had met in the late ’70s when Basquiat was a budding street artist composing sketches and ad – hoc paintings in Greenwich Village. This particular image, over time, became iconic as one of the most enduring images of the art scene in 1980s downtown NYC.

The show and their relationship was criticized widely in the media. It was argued that Warhol was using Basquiat’s fresh blood to stay relevant and others would say that Basquiat was making the best of Warhols’s celebrity status to boost his own career. The show itself was slandered by critics and torn apart by the media, which caused Basquiat to feel like his work was not as appreciated as he thought it would be.

One of the worst comments came from art critic Vivien Ranor, who described their collaborations as “Warhol’s manipulations” and called Basquiat hit “mascotte” in a famous New York Times article. Basquiat, already fragile and erratic due to his drug dependencies, suffered from the gossip and even more from his talent not being recognized.

Immediately after the bad press, Basquiat stopped going regularly to work on collaborative pieces with Warhol, he stopped calling Warhol, and began going deeper into his heroin addiction.
This caused tension between the artists, as Warhol recalls: “I asked him if he was mad at me for that review where he got called my mascot, and he said no.” Even before the exhibition, Warhol wrote: “I’m just holding my breath for the big fight he’ll pick with me right before the show of our collaboration paintings at the Shafrazi Gallery.” After a tension filled month following the show, an entry in Andy’s diary says “Jean-Michel hasn’t called me in a month. So I guess it’s really over”. Due to the failed exhibition the two artists barely spoke, this greatly affected the final years of their relationship.

Produced for an invitation only event at the Palladium following the artists’ exhibit at Shafrazi gallery.
Published by Tony Shafrazi Gallery.
Photograph by Michael Halsband.
First and only authorized printed edition.
Offset lithograph on woven paper.

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