NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS

The influence of television on the works of acclaimed artist Jean-Michel Basquiat’s 1980s paintings, drawings and music is the subject of the next installment in the NIU School of Art and Design’s Elizabeth Allen Visiting Scholars in Art History series. “Jean-Michael Basquiat on TV” can be viewed live via Zoom, Wednesday, March 10 at 2 p.m. The lecture is free and open to the public. Please register in advance.

Jordana Moore Saggese

Dr. Jordana Moore Saggese

Dr. Jordana Moore Saggese, associate professor of American art at the University of Maryland, will examine Basquiat’s connections to the screen and media culture, via both popular culture and the art world. She will look into his predecessors (e.g. Pop artists who were engaged in media culture that emerged immediately before Basquiat.)

Saggese will also consider Basquiat’s engagement with media in terms of his contemporaries. By positioning the screen as apparatus (rather than as simply a passive surface onto which images are projected), Saggese will also explore his engagement with celebrity and spectacle, his critique of consumer culture and his hyper-awareness of the stereotypes circulating via television and film.

Here’s a brief introduction to the work of Jean-Michael Basquiat, by Jordana Moore Saggese:

Funded through the generosity of art history division alumna, Elizabeth Allen Plotnick, this series allows us to bring a roster of nationally and internationally known scholars to campus each year. All talks are free and open to the public.

“Jean-Michael Basquiat on TV” can be viewed live via Zoom, Thursday, March 10 at 2 p.m. Please register in advance.