New work by Basquiat! Or is it?

February 19, 2022 4:03 PM

Newly discovered paintings by Basquiat are going on display. But things may not be what they’re said to be. (archive.org link)
posted by PussKillian (29 comments total)

I gotta think the part where one of the paintings is on cardboard that was not printed until six years after Basquiat died is problematic. That's the subject of the last quarter of the article but it makes me wonder why the first three quarters were necessary.
posted by Nelson at 4:15 PM on February 19, 2022 [9 favorites]

That circa-1994 FedEx font — on the back of a piece of cardboard supposedly painted on in 1982 — is a huge smoking gun. Plus, there's the weird and sad element of Mr. Mumford losing his storage space for non-payment; even if he hadn't been paying close attention to the art world, he surely would have realized by the 1990s or 2000s that these Basquiat pieces (if they actually existed!) would have been worth a whole lot. Yet he never said a word about them to anyone?

I like Basquiat, and fonts, and find this whole thing fascinating. I feel bad for the curatorial staff at the Orlando museum who had reservations about the authenticity of these pieces, and tried to discourage their boss from putting on this exhibition.
posted by lisa g at 4:15 PM on February 19, 2022 [3 favorites]

I gotta think the part where one of the paintings is on cardboard that was not printed until six years after Basquiat died is problematic.

But they own the NFT, man!
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 5:37 PM on February 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

Beyond even the font, I don't think Federal Express even used the name "FedEx" in an official capacity as far back as 1982? Or during Basquiat's lifetime as far as I can tell? This Federal Express mailer from 1987 doesn't seem to use it anywhere. This one from 1989 does, but it's styled "FEDEX" when it appears in copy. That also appears to be the case with this box from 1993, a year before the rebrand.
posted by wreckingball at 5:46 PM on February 19, 2022 [5 favorites]

They found the guy who redesigned the FedEx typeface to interview but it seems like the kind of detail that would be easy to confirm??? I guess there's just too much money at stake for folks to take an honest look at these.
posted by subdee at 6:26 PM on February 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

I was wondering where I left these....
posted by goatdog at 6:28 PM on February 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

Asked this week if the FedEx-imprinted cardboard was that veritable “smoking gun,” O’Donnell remained unshaken. “If there’s a question about one painting, it doesn’t cast doubt on all the other ones.”

This is the part where I decided that we're dealing with someone delusional, desperate or both.
posted by mhoye at 6:32 PM on February 19, 2022 [8 favorites]

I'm not buying any of these for 110 million. Just saying...
posted by Windopaene at 6:35 PM on February 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

This is the part where I decided that we're dealing with someone delusional, desperate or both.

This is the art world, after all.
posted by 2N2222 at 6:35 PM on February 19, 2022 [8 favorites]

They mention in the article that Basquiat paintings suddenly increased in price in 2017, it's funny because I know exactly why that is. It's the kpop artists hyping him and especially TOP from Big Bang.

https://mobile.twitter.com/therapbasquiat/status/1156013593332076545?lang=en
posted by subdee at 6:38 PM on February 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

wreckingball, FEDEX has a first use in commerce date on its trademark registration of January 17, 1984.
posted by jocelmeow at 6:49 PM on February 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

FEDEX has a first use in commerce date on its trademark registration of January 17, 1984.

That's not at issue - what's at issue is the branding and font on the cardboard:

Yet flip over one of the works and you’ll find that it was painted on the back of a shipping box with a clearly visible company imprint: “Align top of FedEx Shipping Label here.” According to Lindon Leader, an independent brand expert consulted by The Times, who was shown a photo of the cardboard, the typeface in the imprint was not used by Federal Express before 1994. He should know: that was the year he personally redesigned the company’s logo and its typefaces while working as senior design director at the Landor Associates advertising firm.

The FedEx branding pre-1994 doesn't use that font at all; they didn't even call themselves FedEx before 1991, years after Basquiat's death, and from an amateur's glance at that cardboard, they didn't use that colour in their branding before their 1994 rebranding exercise.

These are fakes.
posted by mhoye at 7:17 PM on February 19, 2022 [11 favorites]

Someone ask John Lurie.
posted by Clustercuss at 7:40 PM on February 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

An official verdict on this whodunit by the Basquiat estate is now impossible — it closed its authentication committee in 2012 in the aftermath of a lawsuit over Basquiat artworks initially deemed fake. (Amid similar time-consuming and expensive litigation, the Andy Warhol estate closed its own authentication committee that same year.)

Tangential question: couldn't the estates merely decline to certify questionable works?
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 7:48 PM on February 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

Regardless of origin, I’ve always thought that what is important in art is if you like it, if it creates an emotional response. Bueno, no me gustan.
posted by sudogeek at 7:59 PM on February 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

What a strange article. The FedEx evidence seems incredibly damning, but the article plays it off like some kind of different opinions on both sides story. If the typography question is “a subject of expert debate” (ignoring the even more damning use of the word FedEx before the company actually used it), then surely we should be hearing from someone on the other side of the debate. It feels like this article is only half-finished.
posted by ssg at 8:26 PM on February 19, 2022 [4 favorites]

Bob Ross painted gold pan worth it's weight in gold.
posted by clavdivs at 8:52 PM on February 19, 2022

I am not a lawyer but I believe it goes like this: “You saying my painting is fake? I will sue you for diminishing the value” - it gets … insane. They most likely are not paintings by Basquiat but getting there is gonna be a slog.
posted by From Bklyn at 8:54 PM on February 19, 2022

Convenient for the current owners that Mumford died in 2018 and was reportedly very ill for many years. It's interesting that the gallery show description refers to Mumford as a "Brooklyn native," presumably calling back to the language of the poem "Brooklyn brothers." I suppose if you put something in print it must be true.

Someone in the NYT comments theorized that these were "art-alikes" - painted for a studio set to mimic Basquiat paintings. That is, if the Mumford storage unit story is credible in the first place.
posted by muddgirl at 9:52 PM on February 19, 2022

Sorry I am half-asleep, I think it was this exhibit review that called him a Brooklyn native.
posted by muddgirl at 10:33 PM on February 19, 2022

We’ve always known that Basquiat was ahead of his time. This forensic evidence allows us to calculate the interval.

We can now confidently say that Jean-Michel Basquiat was twelve years ahead of his time.
posted by putzface_dickman at 2:32 AM on February 20, 2022 [14 favorites]

A NYC friend has what he believes is an Andy Warhol self-portrait, but as mentioned in the article, the Warhol authentication institute closed about the same time as did the Basquiat institute shut down, right in the middle of his quest to get it authenticated. Now he just has something worth nothing.
posted by kozad at 5:43 AM on February 20, 2022

The archive link doesn't show me any painting images, sadly.
posted by tiny frying pan at 5:54 AM on February 20, 2022

Now he just has something worth nothing

Well he has a Warhol self portrait which is pretty cool; even if it isn't good art for whatever that means.
posted by Mitheral at 7:19 AM on February 20, 2022

mhoye, I was only intending to answer wreckingball's question "Beyond even the font, I don't think Federal Express even used the name "FedEx" in an official capacity as far back as 1982?" about its first use by Federal Express in an official capacity anywhere, as on that package they linked from 1989, not disputing the date of the overall branding change.
posted by jocelmeow at 7:36 AM on February 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

It seems odd that a forger would make such a drastic mistake as to use a Fedex box. That's why I like the theory that they were created for a TV or movie stage.
posted by hypnogogue at 2:08 PM on February 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

I just want to weigh in on the FedEx/Federal Express issue - having worked in design departments, and can tell you that the reason there are brand style guides is because people will do whatever the eff they please; modify logos, use old logos, use crappy, pixelated logos. I've been asked by various marketing professionals to make modifications to company logos because they wanted something that looked a certain way on a certain printed project - usually changes that were frivolous and a matter of their taste, and almost always well outside the official style guide.

I can totally imagine a scenario back in the 80s, having some offices and regional divisions informally calling themselves fedex, and some even using that on the labels.

Branding is also taken more serious now than it was then. Or maybe the knowledge of how to be a brand is more widespread.

I'm not saying that's what happened but I am saying that until some fedex employees from that time period chime in and say "nope, no one would have done that" then it really isn't the smoking gun its been made out to be.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 9:53 PM on February 20, 2022

Because I am a dog with a bone, I wanted to see if I could find any mention of FedEx prior to the trademark registration in 1984 in newspapers. They were the only historical place I could think to look quickly for this kind of data.

I was a tiny bit surprised to find an advertisement for fedex from a newspaper article in Australia dated September 28th, 1983. Didn't consider that might show up in another country. And another September 23rd 1983.

I didn't find any prior to that date, but newspaper archives are difficult, and I am satisfied I found that date prior to the trademark registration showing the name FedEx was in use prior to 1984.

I can't speak to what it means for the authenticity of these pieces nor did I dig any further to see if somewhere there might be use far enough back to hit the 1982 timeline. Instead, I wanted to see if there was any documented use prior to the trademark registration to see if there was any evidence behind my idea that the name fedex could have been used prior to trademark registration. The answer is yes.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 10:25 PM on February 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

“Well, K-Mart had a special…”
posted by Aznable at 6:59 AM on February 21, 2022 [2 favorites]