Dessade Green
Professor Joe
Eng170
2/14/2022
When initially looking at Jean-Michel painting, I only noticed the big head in the middle
of the painting but did not notice anything else. However, with ample time to constantly look at
the image, I observed that in Jean-Michel Basquiat’s most profitable artwork, he used primary
colors a lot for the undertone of the face and used black to make the underlying colors pop out
more. When looking into the eyes and the mouth, I noticed drips of white paint. The lines look
chaotic but controlled simultaneously; you can see the structure of the face looking rigid. The
face is not pointing at the audience but instead is looking away and screaming at something that
appears scary. The focus of attention is the face; it is the most prominent thing in the painting
and the biggest. Also, the white space where the face looks makes the audience wonder what
could be beyond the canvas the audience cannot see. The drawing above the head is subtle and
looks like graffiti. Like the black “A” and “O” at the bottom left and the “X” in the bottom left
corner. Thus, he emphasized the pop art he was exposed to in his career and how New York City
art created him. Jean-Michel gave a three-dimensional space to the face with the lines.
Something noticeable about this painting is that it has no spots not covered with some paint. The
abstract colors that Jean-Michel use makes eyes wander across the canvas. Jean-Michel uses the
black lines to create shapes to seem more apparent, such as the nose and the mouth.
The lines used in the painting are for an organic shape being the face, but the lines look
hectic. The white graffiti is directly above the head as a crown would be. Looking at the bottom
right of the painting, I could see a face coming from the painting’s white side, which is not as
recognizable as the main face. The blue helps to display the nose and the mouth. Looking
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directly to the right of the face, I noticed an animal that the surrounding coloring helped to make
noticeable. The white face looks two-dimensional. The sightlines of the white face and the
animal are toward the face in the middle. However, the sightline for the face in the middle is
toward the right and is beyond the painting. The face in the middle point toward the right helps
give attention to the other two faces. Specifically, it is looking at the face at the bottom left. The
two images looking at the face in the middle continue to add attention to the face in the center.
Looking at the animal to the right of the face, I see that it has its mouth open as well. The animal
seems scared by the face in the middle and the face in the middle looks startled by the white face
on the bottom right. The inorganic shapes inside the face in the middle give more detail to the
face. Such as the window near the back of the head or the white writing shown in the mouth.
The only three-dimensional object is the face in the middle, proving the primary center of
attention. In addition, Jean-Michel did not paint the face wholly, giving a different idea of
ordinary a face painting isn’t usually painted as such. Jean-Michel painted the face with multiple
marks. Unlike the other two faces, they were not just line marks like the main face, but they were
painted with a complete switch of the two colors, blue around the main face and white being
their faces. The lines were able to help give those distinct faces. The window in his head has the
lightest area in the picture, which helps to draw attention to it. The colors around make that one
spot with so little color pop out. The face in the middle does not have any ears. The face looks
like it is melting away with the drips of paint. The white face in the bottom right corner does not
have any eyes and instead has a gap of multiple colors where the eyes would be. The eyes of the
face in the middle are wide open as it is shocked, and the same for the animal’s eyes on the right.
The white figure in the bottom right looks like it’s coming toward the main head in the middle.
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The bottom and top of the canvas are as crucial as the middle; the top right has a pinkish-red
color and a blue line leaving the head in the middle.
Overall, the type of vibes the painting gives due to the various colors and the artwork
utilizing inorganic shapes gave off an energy of chaos.