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The Museum of Contemporary Art
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Created using acrylic and oil paintstick on masonite across three panels, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Six Crimee was shown in the artist’s first Los Angeles solo exhibition, held at the Larry Gagosian Gallery in 1982. This monumental triptych, or three-part painting, demonstrates Basquiat’s exploration of his Black, Puerto Rican, and Haitian identity in light of the social and political realities of New York City in the 1980s. Six Crimee is a reference to prison slang for alliances among inmates, and the painting depicts six unnamed partners-in-crime rendered in rough strokes of black paint. Lacking individual features with the exception of grins of grid-like teeth, they hover above lines and numbers that recall hopscotch and other games children play on the street. While the halo above each figure signals innocence, it also reminds of the tragic reality of racial profiling, mass incarceration, and police violence that disproportionately affects Black youth in the United States. This reality became personal for Basquiat only one year after this painting was made, when his friend and fellow artist Michael Stewart was killed by police. You can view Six Crimee by Jean-Michel Basquiat and more as part of our collection exhibition Long Story Short, on view now. Admission to Long Story Short is free courtesy of Carolyn Clark Powers. #ArtForAll [Jean-Michel Basquiat, Six Crimee, 1982, Acrylic and oil paintstick on Masonite, 72 x 144 x 1 in. (182.88 x 365.76 x 2.54 cm), The Scott D. F. Spiegel Collection © 2009 The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat / ADAGP, Paris / Artists Rights Society, New York]