Topline
The New York apartment where Jean-Michel Basquiat lived and worked for the last five years of his life has hit the rental market for $60,000 a month as demand for the late artist’s work also continues to swell. ‘increase.
Michel Basquiat at Susanne Bartsch’s surprise birthday party at Rainbow Roof, at Steven’s … [+]
Highlights
Basquiat’s apartment at 57 Great Jones Street, New York, has long been a destination for fans of the artist, who died in 1988, and for years the exterior has been tagged with graffiti in memory of Basquiat, who got his start in street art. .
Brokers John Roesch and Garret Kelly said Forbes the building is for commercial use only and the asking price is $51,000 per month in base rent plus $9,000 per month in taxes.
The two-story, 6,600-square-foot space has a “massive” skylight in the main-floor dining room, while the second floor has an open loft space with high ceilings and multiple skylights, according to Meridian Capital Group, which lists the space.
The building most recently housed Bohemian, a referral-only sushi restaurant, and the space is fully equipped for a restaurant, according to Meridian.
The two-story building in the Bowery neighborhood once belonged to Basquiat’s friend and mentor, Andy Warhol, who bought the building in 1970 and leased it to Basquiat beginning in 1983.
Basquiat – who kept a notoriously cluttered studio – worked and lived in space for five years before dying of an accidental heroin overdose in the apartment at age 27.
The building, located at 57 Great Jones Street, is on the market for $60,000 a month.
Tangent
The building’s ties to New York history go back further than Basquiat and Warhol. Believed to be converted Civil War era stables, in the early 1900s the building (then connected to 59 Great Jones Street) housed the New Brighton Athletic Club, a dance hall, saloon and boxing venue with bare hands that would have served as the headquarters of the Five Points Gang, which counted among its members gangsters like Lucky Luciano and Al Capone. In 2016, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation installed a plaque commemorating Basquiat on the facade of the building which describes how the artist “challenged established notions of high and low art, race and class, while forging a visionary language that defied characterization”.
The space recently housed a sushi restaurant and is fully equipped with a kitchen.
Basquiat spent the last five years of his life living and working in this space and died there suddenly. … [+]
Key Context
Basquiat was among the top-selling artists at auction last year, with his works fetching hundreds of millions of dollars. In May, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa sold an untitled painting by Basquiat for $85 million. Although Basquiat died decades ago, attention to his work has increased in recent years, thanks to a new emphasis in the art world on black artists. His estate, controlled by his two sisters, also introduced Basquiat’s work to a younger generation through frequent collaborations with popular brands such as Dr. Martens and Coach. Last year, one of her paintings featured prominently in a Tiffany ad featuring Beyoncé and Jay-Z, who has been collecting her work for years and has even dropped her name in songs. Some of Basquiat’s friends and collaborators have spoken out against the deals, saying his work is exploited for profit.
Before Warhol purchased the building in 1970, the space housed the supposed headquarters of a … [+]
Today, Basquiat fans continue to tag the building with street art, a nod to the artist’s early works. … [+]
Further reading
Here’s why 2021 was the year of Jean-Michel Basquiat, decades after his death (Photos) (Forbes)
Billionaire Yusaku Maezawa sells Basquiat painting for $85 million as artist job market heats up (Forbes)
Rare painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat sells for $40 million at auctionForbes)
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