Two Basquiat-inspired murals, painted by anonymous graffiti artist Banksy, were discovered on the walls near London’s Barbican Centre, which is set to open a major exhibition of the late New York artist’s work on September 21.
The murals, which were confirmed by the graffiti artist on his Instagram account last Sunday, are appeared to be inspired by the work of Basquiat. One of these two references Basquiat’s 1982 work ‘Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump’, depicting a skeleton figure being questioned and searched by two police officers as his dog looks on.
“Portrait of Basquiat being welcomed by the Metropolitan Police – an (unofficial) collaboration with the new Basquiat show,” Banksy captioned the image of the work on his official Instagram feed.
The second artwork depicts a group of people queuing up to ride a Ferris wheel with passenger carts shaped like crowns –referencing Basquiat’s signature motif, and is captioned: “Major new Basquiat show opens at the Barbican – a place that is normally very keen to clean any graffiti from its walls.”
As Banksy is known for highlighting both social and political issues through his work, it is believed that the artist wanted to mock the Barbican’s intention of holding the first large scale exhibition on Jean-Michel Basquiat, who started off as a graffiti artist, while the venue is ironically known to keep its walls free of graffiti.
Meanwhile, the City of London officials have spoken to the BBC, saying that they have not yet decided what to do with Banksy’s works.
“We plan to discuss the pieces with City Corporation colleagues and Barbican residents over the next few weeks,” a spokesman for the local authority said to the BBC.
