Focusing on the Analysis of Gem Spa (Basquiat), discuss the Asphalt about the The Symbolism of Words.
Asphalt "Asphalt" is a reference to the streets he often frequented at the age of 17 after being driven out of his home by his father, Gérard, for bad conduct.
This asphalt also evokes his mother's attempted suicide driving into a wall with her family in the car. At the time Basquiat was only 11 years old.
As a result of this event, he was involuntarily abandoned by his beloved mother, who was interned in a psychiatric facility at age 37.
The significance of asphalt has also been linked to a childhood incident in the artist's life. At age 7 he was hit by a car while playing in the street, earning him a long stay in the hospital and the removal of his spleen.
This asphalt also represents the call of the road described by Jack Kerouac, whom Basquiat continuously read. On the Road by Kerouac, published in 1957, became the symbol of freedom contesting bourgeois values. It is the emblem of the Beat Generation. Yet unlike Kerouac, the radiant child of Untitled (Gem Spa) does not travel by bus and motorcycle, instead it takes to the road on a kid's bike.
Gem Spa Jack Kerouac psychiatric facility Beat Generation On the Road bourgeois