Design of Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure by David Adjaye

May 1, 2023May 5, 2023 architectures ideas 28 views

Immerse yourself in an exhibition showcasing the life and work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, designed by David Adjaye.

Architects	Adjaye Associates
Year	2022
Photographs	Richard Gould
Manufacturer	Lisane Basquiat, Jeanine Heriveaux, Nora Fitzpatrick
Lead Architects	ISG Productions
Graphic Design	Pentagram
Video Interviews	Goldfin Films
Lighting	Tillotson Design Associates
Fabrication	Digifabshop
Audio-Visual Systems	Harvey Marshall Berling Associates
Marketing & Operations	Superblue
Public Relations	Girlie Action
City	Chelsea
Country	New York

The Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure exhibition seeks to showcase the life and work of Basquiat, an artist whose full potential is often misunderstood. Adjaye Associates, known for their use of design as a storytelling tool, aims to create an immersive experience that contextualizes the references and influences that shaped his practice.

To achieve this, the exhibition incorporates visual poetics, ephemera from Basquiat’s family home and personal artifacts, including his bike and objects collected during his travels to Africa. The exhibition design utilizes sustainable materials, such as over 52,000 sustainably forested 2×4 kiln-dried spruce-pine-fir lumber and over 200,000 resins-impregnated beechwood nails, laminated together rather than using adhesives.

Also Read: New Nobel Peace Center by David Adjaye

The design also employs a new methodology for exhibition design, which includes developing contextual and thematic frames through materiality, tonality, and form that speaks to the distinct stages of Basquiat’s life. All stains used in the exhibit are waterborne, low in VOC content, and UL Greenguard Gold Certified. This radical rethinking of the white wall gallery experience results in a sustainable traveling exhibition that tells the story of an artist who is often only partially understood.