Basquiat Tattoo
This piece is based on a work by Jean-Michel Basquiat—tattooed for @christopherkieling at @notattoo_berlin. It’s always a challenge translating something so raw and layered into a tattoo, but that’s also what makes it exciting. There’s a kind of urgency in Basquiat’s work that feels alive, even decades later. Back in 2018, a single painting of his—Untitled (1982)—was sold for over $110 million, the highest price ever paid for an American artist at auction at the time. That moment wasn’t just about the price—it was a recognition of everything his work represents: complexity, energy, struggle, identity, power. All of it laid bare in paint, now carried in skin.
Basquiat didn’t just make art—he left something behind that still sparks conversation. Tattooing a small part of that feels like adding to the story, in a way that’s permanent, personal, and still full of motion.