Said Alexandre Arnault, a communications vice president at Tiffany, quoted in "Basquiat’s friends ‘horrified’ by Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s Tiffany campaign" (NY Post).
I was going to quote the expressions of horror by Basquiat's friends, but when I got to Arnault's defense of Tiffany, I saw that those expressions were surplusage. You've heard the phrase "The best defense is a good offense." But sometimes the best offense is a bad defense. Defense is self-serving, so when it works against you, it really works.
Jean-Michel Basquiat died of a heroin overdose 33 years ago at the age of 27.
But Beyonce and Jay-Z are living well and posing artfully....
It's all so stilted, this "modernization." To my eye, Jay-Z is a tribute to the Maxell blown-away guy of the 1980s...
... and Beyonce is a tribute to John Singer Sargent's "Portrait of Madame X":
Not too "modern."
Then again I could be wrong in my mental associations. At least they are — unlike Arnault's idea that Basquiat mixed that color blue to say "Tiffany!" — unaffected by commercial interests.
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I feeled the same way recently hearing a Sugar Ray song bastardized into an Arby's jingle. Of course, Jamaicans hate the Newport Beach whiteboy appropriation of Reggie music.
Appropriation is inappropriate... sounds like Quantum Mechanics.
Celebrity in a chair.
Celebrity standing up.
Celebrity painting in the picture.
What I see is self-celebratory seeking of more attention for being famous.
Which was, admittedly, much the same reason to have a famous artist like Whistler paint your portrait, or to own speakers that could blow you away, or to pay asking price for a Bastiat "artwork."
Adler said that the anti-capitalist artist, who died at age 27 in 1988, would have wanted his art to be placed in museums so that it’s accessible to the public.
If Basquiat wanted people to be able to see his art, a mass market ad campaign is a much more democratic and accessible vehicle than a museum.
That said, the photo seems kind of bad to me. The composition is weirdly off balance (maybe it should be cropped a little more on the right?) and the lighting is unpleasant. Looking again at the painting, I wonder whether the photographer was trying to mirror the composition of the painting (vertical black shape on the upper right; horizontal black shape at lower left). The painting itself has a sort of aimless structure too, though. Nothing really draws my eye.
The other photo in the article, with the woman on the piano, seems much more balanced and appealing, although I guess the painting isn't presented square-on, and the article is about the painting.
I see the Singer and I see the stereo ad, but I can't see the Tiffany Blue. Tiffany Blue is more saturated? My computer, maybe. I just hope that's not duct tape holding up the Basquiat.
That necklace Beyonce is wearing is supposedly a blood or conflict diamond. She's caught some heat for that but I'm not sure it's fair, to expect this billionaire couple to be all worried about something that happened in 1877 in South Africa. Is the diamond's history redeemed because Beyonce is wearing it in 2021?
I will now no longer buy from Tiffany since those two racist assholes are their spokespeople...
I saw the pic & immediately thought of the Maxwell ad. Then I scrolled down & saw the ad! HAH! The ad lives on til today in many variations. Is iconic.
Beyonce is an homage to Breakfast at Tiffany’s
I think that’s amazing how you made those connections w/famous peoples’ poses!
Cultural appropriation- anyone??
I think that’s funny
Singer Sargent's "Portrait of Madame X" arresting..Beyonce Meh
Basquiat was a bum.
Beyonce is hot.
That's all
I see Beyonce more as a homage to Marilyn Monroe. The connection to the Maxell ad seems to be the chair. The tux in the new ad and the strong wind in the old one prompt very different reactions. The Maxell guy is definitely supposed to be a rebel, as 70s people liked to think they were. In the new ad, the casual pose and the hair style contrast with the tux to create a more ambivalent or ambiguous feeling about tradition and rebellion, luxury and nonconformity.
Is this a joke, a parody? Does the photograph show us serious cultural icons who we should admire? Or are they appropriating white culture? What is a black person with massive wealth to do?
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