Borrowing from graffiti and street imagery, cartoons, mythology and religious symbolism, Basquiat’s drawings and paintings explore issues of race and identity, providing social commentary that is both shrewdly observed and biting. Characterized by their intensely personal nature and the raw, almost aggressive handling of paint, these works have an enduring power to move and to confound. Despite his early death, Basquiat’s large and forceful oeuvre has ensured his continuing reputation as one of modern art’s most distinctive and eloquent voices.