After years creating street art, Jean-Michel Basquiat began his meteoric rise to fame in 1980 with a breakthrough exhibition as part of the Times Square Show. From there, the artist would go on to become the toast of the Big Apple, with a name-making profile in Artforum, his first sale going to the NYC punk icon Debbie Harry, and a budding creative and personal relationship with Andy Warhol. With so many ties to the New York art world, one could be forgiven for not knowing that Basquiat made as much as a quarter of his artistic output thousands of miles away in a sleepy California beach town.
In December 1982, Basquiat began living in Venice, California, at the invitation of the art dealer Larry Gagosian – today, one of the most influential figures in the art world, but at the time still a relatively young aspirant who had opened his first gallery just a few years earlier. Gagosian had met the young creative force while on a trip back east in 1981, and he later gave Basquiat his first west coast show in spring 1982. By the time the collector was able to lure him out to Los Angeles, the pair were primed for an inspired collaboration: during a prolific 18 months in the city, Basquiat would produce more than 100 works, including some of his most pivotal pieces.
