BASQUIAT

ROLANDHAGENBERG

BASQUIATROLAND HAGENBERG

Text and Photos

INTRODUCTIONBy Sin Sin Man

During the 1980s Austrian artist, photographer and writer Roland Hagenberg documented the art world in New York, where he met Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, Keith Haring, Louise Bourgeois, Robert Mapplethorpe and dozens of other renowned artists in their studios. Among them was also Jean-Michel Basquiat whom Hagenberg photographed while painting in his Crosby Street studio. The result was a portfolio of black and white photographs depict-ing Basquiat’s dark-romantic world with a sense of foreboding: A few years later the painter overdosed on heroin at age 28. Basquiat’s paintings are now on level with the most expensive contemporary art works worldwide. The photographs have appeared in numerous mag-azines worldwide as well as in catalogues for pres-tigious institutions such as the Musee d’Art Mod-erne Paris, Christies and Bonhams. I am pleased to present this book as part of the exhibition “Bas-quiat and Friends” at Sin Sin Fine Art. It provides a glimpse into a melancholic, forlorn and dejected world of a bygone era.

World Trade Center, view from Liberty Street, New York, 1983

VORWORTBy Sin Sin Man

Fotograf und Autor Roland Hagenberg hat im New York der 80er Jahre die Kunstwelt dokumentiert. Er begegnete Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, Keith Haring, Louise Bourgeois, Robert Mapplethorpe und dut-zende anderen Künstlern. Dabei entstanden auch ungewöhnliche Portraits von Jean-Michel Basqui-at in seinem Crosby Street Atelier. In den schwarz-weiss Fotos zeigt sich der Maler von seiner dunklen, romantischen Seite – und mit Vorahnung: Weni-ge Jahre später verstarb Jean-Michel im Alter von 28 Jahren an einer Überdosis Heroin. Seine Ar-beiten zählen heute zu den teuersten Kunstwerken der Moderne. Hagenbergs Fotos sind weltweit in Magazinen er-schienen und auch in Katalogen von angesehenen Institutionen wie dem Musée d’Art Moderne Paris, Christies und Bonhams. Ich freue mich deshalb be-sonders, dieses Buch als Teil der Ausstellung „Bas-quiat and Friends“ bei Sin Sin Fine Art vorstellen zu können. Es ermöglicht den Einblick in die mel-ancholische, verlassene und losgelöste Welt eines vergangenen und unvergesslichen Jahrzehnts.

SENTIMENTAL OBSERVATIONBy Roland Hagenberg

When I met Jean-Michel the first time in his Soho studio on Crosby Street he had not yet adopted the habit of wearing Armani suits while painting. That happened later, when Jean-Michel fell under the spell of Andy Warhol who cast a long shadow over him sucking up the energy of youth. Like Andy, Jean-Michel never spoke much, answered only with yes or no, his eyes watery and focused on some-thing people around him couldn’t see. Maybe he is shy, I thought, but at the same time I was annoyed by his arrogance – which hardened over the years and became the armor between people and his vul-nerability. At least I thought so. And with each ad-ditional encounter I became more convinced, that this protective wall would suffocate him one day.If you look at portraits in magazines and muse-um catalogues you will only find Jean-Michel in a stylized version of an-art-world-self, always pos-ing – but never carefree, melancholic, dreamy and oblivious to the camera like in the photographs I took on that summer day in 1983. They are prob-ably the only images around that capture the real,

the not-yet-reinvented Jean-Michel. His studio looked like it had been devastated by an earthquake or occupied by homeless people – which was also featured in Julian Schnabel’s film “Basquiat” – where Jeffrey Wright played Jean-Michel and Da-vid Bowie was Andy. The film-version, however, is sanitized, doesn’t come close to reality. Years lat-er, when I heard the news of Jean-Michel’s sudden death, I remembered his Crosby Street studio. “He could afford wearing a new Armani suit every day,” I thought, “but he couldn’t buy an escape ticket, that would have freed him from the world he had been pushed into.”

SENTIMENTALE BEOBACHTUNGBy Roland Hagenberg

Als ich Jean-Michel das erste Mal in seinem Soho Studio begegnete, hatte er noch nicht die Ange-wohnheit, in einem Armani Anzug zu malen. Das kam Jahre später, als er unter den Bann von Andy Warhol geriet: Lange Schatten warf der Pop-Küns-tler über Jean-Michel, saugte sich an seinen jugend-lichen Energien fest. So wie Andy, sagte Jean-Mi-chel bei Interviews nicht viel, antwortete schlicht mit Ja oder Nein, seine Augen wässrig, auf etwas gerichtet, das Leute um ihn nicht sehen konnten.

Vielleicht ist er schüchtern, dachte ich, und war gleichzeitig verärgert über seine Arroganz. Mit den Jahren verhärtete sie sich, wurde zu einer Rüstung zwischen Menschen und Verletzlichkeit. Zumind-est bildete ich mir das ein, dachte bei jeder weit-eren Begnung, dass Jean-Michel einmal in dieser Rüstung ersticken würde. Wenn man sich seine Portraits in Magazinen und Katalogen aus dieser Zeit ansieht, wird man Jean-Michel nur in einer stilisierten Version seines Kunstwelt-Ichs finden – aber niemals so sorglos, melancholisch, verträumt und blind gegenüber der Kamera –wie in den Fotos, die ich an jenem Sommertag 1983 aufgenommen hatte. Sie sind wahrscheinlich die einzigen Abbil-dungen, die den wirklichen, den noch nicht ganz neu erfundenen Jean-Michel zeigen. Sein Atelier sah aus wie ein Obdachlosenquartier, oder wie nach einem Erdbeben – was auch Julian Schabels Film „Basquiat“ versucht zu zeigen (mit Jeffrey Wright als Jean-Michel und David Bowie als Andy). Die Filmversion aber wirkt desinfiziert, kommt nicht nah genug heran an die Realität jener Zeit. Jahre später, als ich von Jean-Michels Tod hörte, erin-nerte ich mich an sein Atelier in der Crosby Street. „Er konnte sich jeden Tag einen neuen Armani Anzug leisten,“ dachte ich, „aber kein Flucht-Tick-et, das ihn von jener Welt befreit hätte, in die man ihn gestossen hatte.“

Basquiat, melancholic, New York, 1983

How can you paint when people watch? Unless you despise and ignore them? You turn your face to the ground and believe the bar stool is empty behind your back. It is not. They fight all over it: The correct arms brokers from Switzerland. The carpet dealers from Iran with their failed museums. Italians, with good manners, straight teeth and connections to the South. And small-talk Americans with whiter teeth and democratic ambitions and friends in Bo-gota. And yes, the Jewish skinny girls too, next to blond German sons who never worry about work. All they remember now are chewed-on moments in a cocktail glass, and maybe their brief brush with an artist’s short life. But certainly not the original sin, the drowned out history on the soiled shores of Haiti.

Basquiat, painting with bar stool, New York, 1983

BAR STOOL

Basquiat’s studio on Crosby Street, New York, 1983

Basquiat with messy shirt, New York, 1983

His hand is tender and immune to the night that starts around lunch time. It holds the cigarette like a butterfly’s wing or the ash from the night before with a casual girl. His major experience in early life? Spray-painted subway cars, the critic writes. And so he became a wishful version of a Manhat-tan-Rimbaud or Brooklyn-Baudelaire forever en-shrined in black and white TVs. A genius of the nondescript, with torn out dictionary pages, emp-ty lots between misspelled words and a suspected destiny –vague and unfilled. An art world’s child soldier.

Basquiat standing over painting, New York, 1983

HAND

In a head of nails, iron enters the temples first. And then the headache is incapable of romance, is clogged with needles as needles are congested with clots. Crumpled dollar bills in his suit pockets reinforce the battleground of the senses, are torn between the color of yolk and blood – and black, the color of endless space with not enough space to breath. Under a sweater the ends of a white shirt hang loose. A few heart valves still work. He stomps on them, beats them with white paint. He tries to name them before they fail, but his youths had been parsimonious with words, and so he is left alone with the vomit of time, where he pokes around oc-casionally with his brush that nobody cleans.

Basquiat’s hand and shoe, New York, 1983

TWO PLY. TWO PLAY?

Basquiat’s twilight, New York, 1983

Basquiat smoking, New York, 1983

Basquiat’s windows on Crosby Street, New York, 1983

Basquiat with video camera, New York, 1983

Basquiat studio with suitcase and TV, New York, 1983

Basquiat with TV, New York, 1983

Basquiat, unfinished painting – man with hat, New York, 1983

Basquiat, looking straight, New York, 1983

West Broadway, New York, 1983

Manhattan exit, 1983

Roland HagenbergBorn 1955 in Austria; grows up in Vienna.

1976Co-founder of the literary magazine Die Klinge (with Robert Menasse, Franz Krahberger, Friederike Mayröcker, Ernst Jandl, Elfriede Czurda, Thomas Kueffel, Gerhard Jaschke and others).

1980Publication Wiener in Berlin, a documentary on the Viennese art community (Berlin)

1981 Publication Vom Jugendstil zum Freistiel, the first book on artist Martin Kippenberger (Berlin)

Publication Thomas Wachweger/Ina Barfuss (Berlin)

1983Publication of Painters in Berlin (featuring 30 interviews and photographs of artists such as Georg Baselitz, Jörg Immendorff, Markus Lüpertz, Rainer Fetting, Bernd Zimmer and others.

Publication “...UND”, documenting the art world in Berlin.

Contributing writer for STERN Magazin, Berliner Kunstblatt und Zitty Magazin (Germany).

1984Publication of Untitled ‘84, a photo-book on the art world of the 80s; Pelham Press; New York.

Curator for the exhibition 5 Painters from Berlin, Daniel Newburg Gallery, New York (with Rainer Fetting, Bernd Zimmer, Elvira Bach, K.H. Hödicke,and Peter Chevalier).

Publication Eastvillage; Egret Publications, New York. The first documentary on new arts activities in downtown Manhattan.

Exhibition Photos by Roland Roland; Rosa Esman Gallery, New York.

1985Exhibition Psycho Pueblo , Fernando Vijande Gallery, Madrid, Spain.

Publication of Eastvillage Part II, Egret Publications, New York.

Exhibition Eastvillage Funktional, Rosa Esman Gallery, New York.

Publication Upheaval, the first book on Mark Kostabi (New York)

1986Initiator and organizer of “Happy Happy” - a children’s coloring book for UNICEF. Among the 60 internationally renowned artists are Roy Lichtenstein, Keith Haring, Eric Fischl, Tom Wesselmann, Christo and others).

Founder of Artfinder Magazine, New York.

1987Publication of The Graphic Work of Walter Königstein, Egret Publications, New York - Vienna.

1988Co-founder and editor of the magazine Art of Russia and the West, Apollon Foundation, NewYork Milano (with Michael Chemiakin) supported by George Segal and Louise Bourgeois

1989 Publication Dupe of Being, Edition Lafayette, New York, 608 pages on Dutch painter Karel Appel and Japanese performer Min Tanaka.Translating the poetry of Friederike Mayröcker (German/English).

1990 Publication of Happy Happy, part II; for UNICEF, Edition Lafayette, New York.Roland’s book Untitled is part of the “Media-Image” exhibition at the Whitney Museum in New York.

Publication exhibition catalogue Alfred Grunwald, Austrian Cultural Institute in New York (Curator Henry Grun-wald, former editor-in -chief of TIME magazine.)

Publication Alexander Rutsch - 40 years of sculptures and paintings. A book on the Austrian artist who was a contemporary of Andre Malreaux and Salvadore Dali.

1991Publication The Complete Sculptures of Karel Appel; Edition Lafayette, New York, 408 pages.

1993Together with Bernd Zimmer co-founder and editor of the German art magazine plantSÜDEN.

1995Film and script for two music videos on Hitomi Mieno.

Exhibition “Jean-Michel Basquiat – photos by Roland Hagenberg” at Moca-Foundation, Tokyo.

1998Founder and editor of the monthly culture supplement “PLANT” in Tokyo Journal.

Contributor to “Mondän”, German TV ZDF.

Group exhibition “Tokyo Rooms”, Kawasaki.

1999 Exhibition “New York Artists” – Photos by Roland at Gallery 360°, Tokyo (with portraits of Andy Warhol, Keith Haring Robert Mapplethorpe, Louise Bourgeois, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Francesco Clemente and 30 other artists.

2001 Exhibition “sur/FACE: 14 Contemporary Japanese Architects” at BMW Square in Tokyo. With photographs by Roland and models by architects such as Tadao Ando, Arata Isozaki, Toyo Ito, Kazuyo Sejima, Kenzo Tange, Jun Aoki, Kengo Kuma and others.

Roland writes, conceives and directs video documentary “SurFACE – 14 Contemporary Japanese Architects” (co-director Karl Neubert).

Photo documentary on Issey Miyake in Berlin for Soen-Magazine, Tokyo.

2002Roland conceives ongoing internet project “SHELTER: Modern Architecture and the Meaning of Security in our Times”. For this project Roland collects video statements from international architects. T/N Probe Gallery, Tokyo.

2003Roland conceives, writes and films documentary on Land Art projects. Travels with photographer Sheila Metzner through the American Southwest for BMW.

Exhibition “22 Photographs by Roland Hagenberg” at Maison Franco-Japonaise, Tokyo.

Exhibition “Planes to catch, and things to see!” – Photographs by Roland Hagenberg at the Gallery of the Austri-an Embassy, Tokyo.

DVD realease of Roland’s documentary “SurFACE – 14 Contemporary Japanese Architects” (Uplink, Tokyo).

Movie theater film screenings of Roland’s documentary “SurFACE” in Tokyo, Osaka and Aichi.

2004CD release GALAXY – with 16 songs written and composed by Roland.Publication 14 JAPANESE ARCHITECTS with photos and interviews by Roland. Published by Kashiwa

Shobo, Tokyo.

Exhibition C’EST SI BON! at Orbient, Tokyo. With Roland’s photos and a video collage from Paris.

2005Exhibition LIGHTYEARS at Artium, Fukuoka, Japan. With architectural photos, portraits and a video documen-tary by Roland on Japanese architects Tadao Ando, Kengo Kuma, Kazuyo Sejima, Terunobu Fujimori and Jun Aoki.

Exhibition KYOTO at the Gallery of the Austrian Embassy, Tokyo. With photos and a video by Roland. Since 2006Producer and director of videos for BMW.

2006Exhibition SOBYO – With architectural photos and a video byRoland as well as drawings by Toyo Ito, Kazuyo Sejima, Kengo Kuma,Jun Aoki and Terunobu Fujimori; Hubert Winter Gallery, Vienna, Austria.

Exhibition 40+/40- at Sin Sin Fine Arts, Hong Kong – with photos by Roland.

2007Exhibition BEAUTIFUL – with Roland’s portraits of 33 outstanding women. Le Meridien Grand Pacific, Tokyo.

Publication WORDS + VISUALS, Hong Kong. Roland collaborates with architect Kengo Kuma, designer Sin Sin, explorer Wong How Man and photographer Matthieu Ricard.

Roland writes song-lyrics for Japanese TV station Wowow.

Roland visits the Amazon river for a film documentary on Flavio Varani.

Roland visits art studios in Jogjakarta, Indonesia for his book project Indonesian Invasion.

2008Publication INDONESIAN INVASION – encounters with 14 Indonesian contemporary artists; interviews and pho-tos by Roland; published by Sin Sin Fine Art, Hong Kong.

Documentary on volcanoes in Japan for BMW Magazine.

Yokohama Triennale, presentation of Roland’s video works, October 2008.

2009Garden City Publishers releases Roland’s new book “20 Japanese Architects”.

Exhibition with photos by Roland Hagenberg at Ohara Museum in Kurashiki, Japan April 2009.

Collaboration with Nobuyoshi Araki for his book published by Stern Fotografie.

Release of Roland’s second CD album “Show Me” with 16 new songs.

Exhibition “Architecture of the Future” at Mitsubishi Jisho Artium, Fukuoka, Japan.

2010“Raiding Project” – Roland invites 10 Japanese architects to create multi-functionalspaces in the village of Raiding, birthplace of composer Franz Liszt, in Austria.

“JapanLisztRaiding” - an exhibition curated by Roland Hagenberg atthe Architecture Museum in Vienna with photographs by Roland. Participating architects: Jun Aoki, Terunobu Fujimori, Hiroshi Hara, Toyo Ito, Klein-Dytham, Kengo Kuma, SANAA/Sejima-Nishizawa, Tezuka Architects and Yasuhiro Yamashita.

“Forum Raiding” is a new magazine by Roland that observes the relationship between metropolitan and rural

areas.Workshop in Raiding: Roland discusses with Terunobu Fujimori, Kengo Kuma and Hiroshi Hara their work at the Liszt Concert Hall in Raiding.

2011Reception at the Austrian embassy in Tokyo for Roland’s Raiding Project.

Roland documents the devastation of the earthquake in Fukushima.

Kashiwa Shobo Japan publishes Roland’s book “24 Architects in Japan”.

“Raiding Project: Crossover Architecture” at BMW Group Space in Tokyo with Roland’s photographs and videos. Participating are also nine Japanese star architects with models and drawings – among them the Pritzker Prize winners Kazuyo Sejima, Ryue Nishizawa and Toyo Ito as well as Kengo Kuma, Hiroshi Hara and Terunobu Fujimori. Roland invited the architects to create new models of micro-houses for the birthplace of Franz Liszt in Raiding, Austria.

On the occasion of Franz Liszt’s 200th birthday October 22 – Roland announces construction-start of the first building of the Raiding Project. It is called “Storkouse” – a creation by architectTerunobu Fujimori.

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT) presents Roland’s film “Architectural Environments for Tomorrow – The philosophy of Hiroshi Hara” (produced in Hanoi and Tokyo). Curated by Kazuyo Sejima).

2012Exhibition “Kleinarbeit-Small Works” at Franz Liszt’s birthplace in Raiding.

“Japan in Raiding” - performance event with Japanese musicians at Franz Liszt Concert Hall in Raiding.

Finishing of construction of the experimental guesthouse “Storkhouse” – which Roland created in collaboration with Japanese architect Terunobu Fujimori in Raiding, birthplace of composer Franz Liszt.

2013“Japan in Raiding 2” - performance event with Japanese musicians at Franz Liszt Concert Hall in Raiding.

Roland and Japanese architect Hiroshi Hara present their new collaborations: “Hara House” – an experimental guest house in Raiding, birthplace of composer Franz Liszt and “Drei Wanderer” – a four meter high sculpture inspired by T. S. Eliot’s poem “The Wasteland”.

Exhibition “10 Years After”, Sin Sin Fine Art, Hong Kong

2014Presentation “Storkhouse” at Austrian Embassy Tokyo

Exhibition “Storkhouse” at Mitsubishi Jisho Art Space, Fukuoka, Japan

Winner of “Austrian Tourism Innovation Prize 2014” for the guest house “Storkhouse” – a collaboration work with Terunobu Fujimori.

Exhibition “Basquiat: Photos by Roland Hagenberg” at ponyhof artclub contemporary art, Munich

Construction of collaboration work with Hiroshi Hara “Drei Wanderer” –a four meter high shelter and sculpture inspired by T. S. Eliot’s poem “The Wasteland” (in the village of Raiding, birthplace of composer Franz Liszt).

Group exhibition “The Mirror: Hold the Mirror up to Nature”, in Tokyo – with Terunobu Fujimori, Anish Kapoor, Naoya Hatakeyama, Bae Bien-U and others.

Publication “Jos Pirkner” – a book about the sculptor and architect of the new Red Bull International Headquar-ter in Austria. Roland is guest-speaker at the opening.

“Basquiat” is published on the occasion of “Basquiat and Friends: Photos by Roland Hagenberg” at Sin Sin Fine Art, 53-54 Sai Street, Central, Hong Kong, November 2014.

Publisher: Sin Sin Fin Art www.sinsin.com.hkPrinted by: Asia One Integrated Communications ServicesCopyright texts by the authorsCopyright photographs Roland Hagenberg www.hagenberg.com

Basquiat, unfinished painting, New York, 1983

ISBN 978-988-15075-4-9