BASQUIAT | The Book

BASQUIAT
ROLAND
HAGENBERG
BASQUIAT
Text and Photos
ROLAND HAGENBERG
INTRODUCTION
By Sin Sin Man
D uring the 1980s Austrian artist, photographer
and writer Roland Hagenberg documented the art
world in New York, where he met Andy Warhol,
Jeff Koons, Keith Haring, Louise Bourgeois, Robert
Mapplethorpe and dozens of other renowned artists
in their studios. Among them was also Jean-Michel
Basquiat whom Hagenberg photographed while
painting in his Crosby Street studio. The result was
a portfolio of black and white photographs depicting Basquiat’s dark-romantic world with a sense of
foreboding: A few years later the painter overdosed
on heroin at age 28. Basquiat’s paintings are now
on level with the most expensive contemporary art
works worldwide.
The photographs have appeared in numerous magazines worldwide as well as in catalogues for prestigious institutions such as the Musee d’Art Moderne Paris, Christies and Bonhams. I am pleased
to present this book as part of the exhibition “Basquiat and Friends” at Sin Sin Fine Art. It provides
a glimpse into a melancholic, forlorn and dejected
world of a bygone era.
World Trade Center, view from Liberty Street, New York, 1983
VORWORT
SENTIMENTAL OBSERVATION
F otograf und Autor Roland Hagenberg hat im New
W hen I met Jean-Michel the first time in his Soho
By Sin Sin Man
York der 80er Jahre die Kunstwelt dokumentiert. Er
begegnete Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, Keith Haring,
Louise Bourgeois, Robert Mapplethorpe und dutzende anderen Künstlern. Dabei entstanden auch
ungewöhnliche Portraits von Jean-Michel Basquiat in seinem Crosby Street Atelier. In den schwarzweiss Fotos zeigt sich der Maler von seiner dunklen,
romantischen Seite – und mit Vorahnung: Wenige Jahre später verstarb Jean-Michel im Alter von
28 Jahren an einer Überdosis Heroin. Seine Arbeiten zählen heute zu den teuersten Kunstwerken
der Moderne.
Hagenbergs Fotos sind weltweit in Magazinen erschienen und auch in Katalogen von angesehenen
Institutionen wie dem Musée d’Art Moderne Paris,
Christies und Bonhams. Ich freue mich deshalb besonders, dieses Buch als Teil der Ausstellung „Basquiat and Friends“ bei Sin Sin Fine Art vorstellen
zu können. Es ermöglicht den Einblick in die melancholische, verlassene und losgelöste Welt eines
vergangenen und unvergesslichen Jahrzehnts.
By Roland Hagenberg
studio on Crosby Street he had not yet adopted the
habit of wearing Armani suits while painting. That
happened later, when Jean-Michel fell under the
spell of Andy Warhol who cast a long shadow over
him sucking up the energy of youth. Like Andy,
Jean-Michel never spoke much, answered only with
yes or no, his eyes watery and focused on something people around him couldn’t see. Maybe he is
shy, I thought, but at the same time I was annoyed
by his arrogance – which hardened over the years
and became the armor between people and his vulnerability. At least I thought so. And with each additional encounter I became more convinced, that
this protective wall would suffocate him one day.
If you look at portraits in magazines and museum catalogues you will only find Jean-Michel in a
stylized version of an-art-world-self, always posing – but never carefree, melancholic, dreamy and
oblivious to the camera like in the photographs I
took on that summer day in 1983. They are probably the only images around that capture the real,
the not-yet-reinvented Jean-Michel. His studio
looked like it had been devastated by an earthquake
or occupied by homeless people – which was also
featured in Julian Schnabel’s film “Basquiat” –
where Jeffrey Wright played Jean-Michel and David Bowie was Andy. The film-version, however, is
sanitized, doesn’t come close to reality. Years later, when I heard the news of Jean-Michel’s sudden
death, I remembered his Crosby Street studio. “He
could afford wearing a new Armani suit every day,”
I thought, “but he couldn’t buy an escape ticket,
that would have freed him from the world he had
been pushed into.”
SENTIMENTALE BEOBACHTUNG
By Roland Hagenberg
A ls ich Jean-Michel das erste Mal in seinem Soho
Studio begegnete, hatte er noch nicht die Angewohnheit, in einem Armani Anzug zu malen. Das
kam Jahre später, als er unter den Bann von Andy
Warhol geriet: Lange Schatten warf der Pop-Künstler über Jean-Michel, saugte sich an seinen jugendlichen Energien fest. So wie Andy, sagte Jean-Michel bei Interviews nicht viel, antwortete schlicht
mit Ja oder Nein, seine Augen wässrig, auf etwas
gerichtet, das Leute um ihn nicht sehen konnten.
Vielleicht ist er schüchtern, dachte ich, und war
gleichzeitig verärgert über seine Arroganz. Mit den
Jahren verhärtete sie sich, wurde zu einer Rüstung
zwischen Menschen und Verletzlichkeit. Zumindest bildete ich mir das ein, dachte bei jeder weiteren Begnung, dass Jean-Michel einmal in dieser
Rüstung ersticken würde. Wenn man sich seine
Portraits in Magazinen und Katalogen aus dieser
Zeit ansieht, wird man Jean-Michel nur in einer
stilisierten Version seines Kunstwelt-Ichs finden –
aber niemals so sorglos, melancholisch, verträumt
und blind gegenüber der Kamera –wie in den Fotos,
die ich an jenem Sommertag 1983 aufgenommen
hatte. Sie sind wahrscheinlich die einzigen Abbildungen, die den wirklichen, den noch nicht ganz
neu erfundenen Jean-Michel zeigen. Sein Atelier
sah aus wie ein Obdachlosenquartier, oder wie nach
einem Erdbeben – was auch Julian Schabels Film
„Basquiat“ versucht zu zeigen (mit Jeffrey Wright
als Jean-Michel und David Bowie als Andy). Die
Filmversion aber wirkt desinfiziert, kommt nicht
nah genug heran an die Realität jener Zeit. Jahre
später, als ich von Jean-Michels Tod hörte, erinnerte ich mich an sein Atelier in der Crosby Street.
„Er konnte sich jeden Tag einen neuen Armani
Anzug leisten,“ dachte ich, „aber kein Flucht-Ticket, das ihn von jener Welt befreit hätte, in die man
ihn gestossen hatte.“
Basquiat, melancholic, New York, 1983
BAR STOOL
How can you paint when people watch? Unless you
despise and ignore them? You turn your face to the
ground and believe the bar stool is empty behind
your back. It is not. They fight all over it: The correct
arms brokers from Switzerland. The carpet dealers
from Iran with their failed museums. Italians, with
good manners, straight teeth and connections to
the South. And small-talk Americans with whiter
teeth and democratic ambitions and friends in Bogota. And yes, the Jewish skinny girls too, next to
blond German sons who never worry about work.
All they remember now are chewed-on moments in
a cocktail glass, and maybe their brief brush with
an artist’s short life. But certainly not the original
sin, the drowned out history on the soiled shores
of Haiti.
Basquiat, painting with bar stool, New York, 1983
Basquiat’s studio on Crosby Street, New York, 1983
Basquiat with messy shirt, New York, 1983
HAND
His hand is tender and immune to the night that
starts around lunch time. It holds the cigarette like
a butterfly’s wing or the ash from the night before
with a casual girl. His major experience in early
life? Spray-painted subway cars, the critic writes.
And so he became a wishful version of a Manhattan-Rimbaud or Brooklyn-Baudelaire forever enshrined in black and white TVs. A genius of the
nondescript, with torn out dictionary pages, empty lots between misspelled words and a suspected
destiny –vague and unfilled. An art world’s child
soldier.
Basquiat standing over painting, New York, 1983
TWO PLY. TWO PLAY?
In a head of nails, iron enters the temples first.
And then the headache is incapable of romance,
is clogged with needles as needles are congested
with clots. Crumpled dollar bills in his suit pockets
reinforce the battleground of the senses, are torn
between the color of yolk and blood – and black,
the color of endless space with not enough space to
breath. Under a sweater the ends of a white shirt
hang loose. A few heart valves still work. He stomps
on them, beats them with white paint. He tries to
name them before they fail, but his youths had been
parsimonious with words, and so he is left alone
with the vomit of time, where he pokes around occasionally with his brush that nobody cleans.
Basquiat’s hand and shoe, New York, 1983
Basquiat’s twilight, New York, 1983
Basquiat smoking, New York, 1983
Basquiat’s windows on Crosby Street, New York, 1983
Basquiat with video camera, New York, 1983
Basquiat studio with suitcase and TV, New York, 1983
Basquiat with TV, New York, 1983
Basquiat, unfinished painting – man with hat, New York, 1983
Basquiat, looking straight, New York, 1983
West Broadway, New York, 1983
Manhattan exit, 1983
Roland Hagenberg
Born 1955 in Austria; grows up in Vienna.
1976
Co-founder of the literary magazine Die Klinge (with Robert Menasse, Franz Krahberger, Friederike Mayröcker,
Ernst Jandl, Elfriede Czurda, Thomas Kueffel, Gerhard Jaschke and others).
1980
Publication Wiener in Berlin, a documentary on the Viennese art community (Berlin)
1981
Publication Vom Jugendstil zum Freistiel, the first book on artist Martin Kippenberger (Berlin)
Publication Thomas Wachweger/Ina Barfuss (Berlin)
1983
Publication of Painters in Berlin (featuring 30 interviews and photographs of artists such as Georg Baselitz,
Jörg Immendorff, Markus Lüpertz, Rainer Fetting, Bernd Zimmer and others.
Publication “...UND”, documenting the art world in Berlin.
Contributing writer for STERN Magazin, Berliner Kunstblatt und Zitty Magazin (Germany).
1984
Publication of Untitled ‘84, a photo-book on the art world of the 80s; Pelham Press; New York.
Curator for the exhibition 5 Painters from Berlin, Daniel Newburg Gallery, New York (with Rainer Fetting, Bernd
Zimmer, Elvira Bach, K.H. Hödicke,and Peter Chevalier).
Publication Eastvillage; Egret Publications, New York. The first documentary on new arts activities in downtown
Manhattan.
Exhibition Photos by Roland Roland; Rosa Esman Gallery, New York.
1985
Exhibition Psycho Pueblo , Fernando Vijande Gallery, Madrid, Spain.
Publication of Eastvillage Part II, Egret Publications, New York.
Exhibition Eastvillage Funktional, Rosa Esman Gallery, New York.
Publication Upheaval, the first book on Mark Kostabi (New York)
1986
Initiator and organizer of “Happy Happy” - a children’s coloring book for UNICEF. Among the 60 internationally
renowned artists are Roy Lichtenstein, Keith Haring, Eric Fischl, Tom Wesselmann, Christo and others).
Founder of Artfinder Magazine, New York.
1987
Publication of The Graphic Work of Walter Königstein, Egret Publications, New York - Vienna.
1988
Co-founder and editor of the magazine Art of Russia and the West, Apollon Foundation, NewYork Milano (with
Michael Chemiakin) supported by George Segal and Louise Bourgeois
1989
Publication Dupe of Being, Edition Lafayette, New York, 608 pages on Dutch painter Karel Appel and Japanese
performer Min Tanaka.
Translating the poetry of Friederike Mayröcker (German/English).
1990
Publication of Happy Happy, part II; for UNICEF, Edition Lafayette, New York.
Roland’s book Untitled is part of the “Media-Image” exhibition at the Whitney Museum in New York.
Publication exhibition catalogue Alfred Grunwald, Austrian Cultural Institute in New York (Curator Henry Grunwald, former editor-in -chief of TIME magazine.)
Publication Alexander Rutsch - 40 years of sculptures and paintings. A book on the Austrian artist who was a
contemporary of Andre Malreaux and Salvadore Dali.
1991
Publication The Complete Sculptures of Karel Appel; Edition Lafayette, New York, 408 pages.
1993
Together with Bernd Zimmer co-founder and editor of the German art magazine plantSÜDEN.
1995
Film and script for two music videos on Hitomi Mieno.
Exhibition “Jean-Michel Basquiat – photos by Roland Hagenberg” at Moca-Foundation, Tokyo.
1998
Founder and editor of the monthly culture supplement “PLANT” in Tokyo Journal.
Contributor to “Mondän”, German TV ZDF.
Group exhibition “Tokyo Rooms”, Kawasaki.
1999
Exhibition “New York Artists” – Photos by Roland at Gallery 360°, Tokyo (with portraits of Andy Warhol, Keith
Haring Robert Mapplethorpe, Louise Bourgeois, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Francesco Clemente and 30 other artists.
2001
Exhibition “sur/FACE: 14 Contemporary Japanese Architects” at BMW Square in Tokyo. With photographs by
Roland and models by architects such as Tadao Ando, Arata Isozaki, Toyo Ito, Kazuyo Sejima, Kenzo Tange, Jun
Aoki, Kengo Kuma and others.
Roland writes, conceives and directs video documentary “SurFACE – 14 Contemporary Japanese Architects”
(co-director Karl Neubert).
Photo documentary on Issey Miyake in Berlin for Soen-Magazine, Tokyo.
2002
Roland conceives ongoing internet project “SHELTER: Modern Architecture and the Meaning of Security in our
Times”. For this project Roland collects video statements from international architects. T/N Probe Gallery, Tokyo.
2003
Roland conceives, writes and films documentary on Land Art projects. Travels with photographer Sheila Metzner
through the American Southwest for BMW.
Exhibition “22 Photographs by Roland Hagenberg” at Maison Franco-Japonaise, Tokyo.
Exhibition “Planes to catch, and things to see!” – Photographs by Roland Hagenberg at the Gallery of the Austrian Embassy, Tokyo.
DVD realease of Roland’s documentary “SurFACE – 14 Contemporary Japanese Architects” (Uplink, Tokyo).
Movie theater film screenings of Roland’s documentary “SurFACE” in Tokyo, Osaka and Aichi.
2004
CD release GALAXY – with 16 songs written and composed by Roland.
Publication 14 JAPANESE ARCHITECTS with photos and interviews by Roland. Published by Kashiwa
Shobo, Tokyo.
Exhibition C’EST SI BON! at Orbient, Tokyo. With Roland’s photos and a video collage from Paris.
areas.
Workshop in Raiding: Roland discusses with Terunobu Fujimori, Kengo Kuma and Hiroshi Hara their work at the
Liszt Concert Hall in Raiding.
2005
Exhibition LIGHTYEARS at Artium, Fukuoka, Japan. With architectural photos, portraits and a video documentary by Roland on Japanese architects Tadao Ando, Kengo Kuma, Kazuyo Sejima, Terunobu Fujimori and Jun
Aoki.
2011
Reception at the Austrian embassy in Tokyo for Roland’s Raiding Project.
Exhibition KYOTO at the Gallery of the Austrian Embassy, Tokyo. With photos and a video by Roland.
Kashiwa Shobo Japan publishes Roland’s book “24 Architects in Japan”.
Since 2006
Producer and director of videos for BMW.
“Raiding Project: Crossover Architecture” at BMW Group Space in Tokyo with Roland’s photographs and videos.
Participating are also nine Japanese star architects with models and drawings – among them the Pritzker Prize
winners Kazuyo Sejima, Ryue Nishizawa and Toyo Ito as well as Kengo Kuma, Hiroshi Hara and Terunobu
Fujimori. Roland invited the architects to create new models of micro-houses for the birthplace of Franz Liszt in
Raiding, Austria.
2006
Exhibition SOBYO – With architectural photos and a video by
Roland as well as drawings by Toyo Ito, Kazuyo Sejima, Kengo Kuma,
Jun Aoki and Terunobu Fujimori; Hubert Winter Gallery, Vienna, Austria.
Exhibition 40+/40- at Sin Sin Fine Arts, Hong Kong – with photos by Roland.
2007
Exhibition BEAUTIFUL – with Roland’s portraits of 33 outstanding women. Le Meridien Grand Pacific, Tokyo.
Publication WORDS + VISUALS, Hong Kong. Roland collaborates with architect Kengo Kuma, designer Sin Sin,
explorer Wong How Man and photographer Matthieu Ricard.
Roland writes song-lyrics for Japanese TV station Wowow.
Roland visits the Amazon river for a film documentary on Flavio Varani.
Roland visits art studios in Jogjakarta, Indonesia for his book project Indonesian Invasion.
2008
Publication INDONESIAN INVASION – encounters with 14 Indonesian contemporary artists; interviews and photos by Roland; published by Sin Sin Fine Art, Hong Kong.
Documentary on volcanoes in Japan for BMW Magazine.
Yokohama Triennale, presentation of Roland’s video works, October 2008.
2009
Garden City Publishers releases Roland’s new book “20 Japanese Architects”.
Exhibition with photos by Roland Hagenberg at Ohara Museum in Kurashiki, Japan April 2009.
Roland documents the devastation of the earthquake in Fukushima.
On the occasion of Franz Liszt’s 200th birthday October 22 – Roland announces construction-start of the first
building of the Raiding Project. It is called “Storkouse” – a creation by architectTerunobu Fujimori.
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT) presents Roland’s film “Architectural Environments for Tomorrow –
The philosophy of Hiroshi Hara” (produced in Hanoi and Tokyo). Curated by Kazuyo Sejima).
2012
Exhibition “Kleinarbeit-Small Works” at Franz Liszt’s birthplace in Raiding.
“Japan in Raiding” - performance event with Japanese musicians at Franz Liszt Concert Hall in Raiding.
Finishing of construction of the experimental guesthouse “Storkhouse” – which Roland created in collaboration
with Japanese architect Terunobu Fujimori in Raiding, birthplace of composer Franz Liszt.
2013
“Japan in Raiding 2” - performance event with Japanese musicians at Franz Liszt Concert Hall in Raiding.
Roland and Japanese architect Hiroshi Hara present their new collaborations: “Hara House” – an experimental
guest house in Raiding, birthplace of composer Franz Liszt and “Drei Wanderer” – a four meter high sculpture
inspired by T. S. Eliot’s poem “The Wasteland”.
Exhibition “10 Years After”, Sin Sin Fine Art, Hong Kong
2014
Presentation “Storkhouse” at Austrian Embassy Tokyo
Exhibition “Storkhouse” at Mitsubishi Jisho Art Space, Fukuoka, Japan
Collaboration with Nobuyoshi Araki for his book published by Stern Fotografie.
Winner of “Austrian Tourism Innovation Prize 2014” for the guest house “Storkhouse” – a collaboration work with
Terunobu Fujimori.
Release of Roland’s second CD album “Show Me” with 16 new songs.
Exhibition “Basquiat: Photos by Roland Hagenberg” at ponyhof artclub contemporary art, Munich
Exhibition “Architecture of the Future” at Mitsubishi Jisho Artium, Fukuoka, Japan.
Construction of collaboration work with Hiroshi Hara “Drei Wanderer” –a four meter high shelter and sculpture
inspired by T. S. Eliot’s poem “The Wasteland” (in the village of Raiding, birthplace of composer Franz Liszt).
2010
“Raiding Project” – Roland invites 10 Japanese architects to create multi-functional
spaces in the village of Raiding, birthplace of composer Franz Liszt, in Austria.
“JapanLisztRaiding” - an exhibition curated by Roland Hagenberg at
the Architecture Museum in Vienna with photographs by Roland. Participating architects: Jun Aoki, Terunobu
Fujimori, Hiroshi Hara, Toyo Ito, Klein-Dytham, Kengo Kuma, SANAA/Sejima-Nishizawa, Tezuka Architects and
Yasuhiro Yamashita.
“Forum Raiding” is a new magazine by Roland that observes the relationship between metropolitan and rural
Group exhibition “The Mirror: Hold the Mirror up to Nature”, in Tokyo – with Terunobu Fujimori, Anish Kapoor,
Naoya Hatakeyama, Bae Bien-U and others.
Publication “Jos Pirkner” – a book about the sculptor and architect of the new Red Bull International Headquarter in Austria. Roland is guest-speaker at the opening.
Basquiat, unfinished painting, New York, 1983
“Basquiat” is published on the occasion of “Basquiat and Friends: Photos by Roland Hagenberg”
at Sin Sin Fine Art, 53-54 Sai Street, Central, Hong Kong, November 2014.
Publisher: Sin Sin Fin Art www.sinsin.com.hk
Printed by: Asia One Integrated Communications Services
Copyright texts by the authors
Copyright photographs Roland Hagenberg www.hagenberg.com
ISBN 978-988-15075-4-9