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Untitled (One Eyed Man or Xerox Face) features a cyclops-like figure in crimson bearing a grin set against a multicolored background. The raised arms echoes the pose of the triumphant boxer. "The hero figures in Basquiat’s paintings refer to the stars of sporting, musical and artistic worlds who, thanks to their extraordinary talents, transcended their social status to become the nation’s icons," said Alex Branczik, Head of Contemporary Art for Sotheby's Europe. "Painted with their arms held aloft and wearing a crown of thorns they also reflect Basquiat’s own dramatic ascent from street artist to gallery sensation, and to his present status as one of the most valuable and talked about artists in the world."At the center of the painting is the "Xerox face" of the title: Basquiat applied a photocopied sheet of his own drawing to create the figure's face. Basquiat first experimented with Xerox in 1979, when he and his friend Jennifer Stein created a small series of mixed media collages which they photocopied onto postcards that they then sold on the street. To the lower right, Basquiat depicts his famous crown motif.
Xerox cyclops Sotheby's