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I Who Have Arrived In Heaven: Film Analysis

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The contemporary art world has seen many changes throughout the years. Advances in technology, viewer outreach, and money has allowed for the visual arts to accelerate at a faster pace. With the advent of the Internet and social media websites, an implied growth of interests in the visual arts has been developing. One example of the impact social media has on the contemporary art world is the 2013 exhibition I Who Have Arrived In Heaven by Yayoi Kusama held at the David Zwirner gallery. Attendees waited three hours in line at a chance to participate in the Infinity Room and take a “selfie” to upload to Instagram, a popular social media application that is photo centric. According to a New York Times article written in 2013 for the exhibition, …show more content…

Basquiat being aware of the connotation of this reference would struggle with being a black artist surrounded by a mainly white art world. In 2011 the New York Times article “Hip-Hop Finds an Artist to Believe In”, discussed the correlation of hip-hop musicians and Jean-Michel Basquiat. The art curator Franklin Sirmans states: “Jean-Michel lived as the only black person in the room,… A Jay Z or Swizz Beatz can relate to that as record executives.” Jay Z may mention his ownership of a Basquiat painting, but he also relates to the struggle that was placed upon Basquiat as a young black artist in the 80s. The article goes on to say: “Jay Z begins a verse in the song with the couplet “Inspired by Basquiat, my chariot’s on fire /Everybody took shots, hit my body up, I’m tired,” and in later verses makes reference to the pressures of escaping the ghetto but not its stigma, something Mr. Sirmans says Basquiat, whose work was often regarded by critics as “primitive,” faced.” With the negative criticism Jay Z received on the art and music front, one thing is lacking within these reviews and that is the correlation between Jay Z and Basquiat. In the 80s hip-hop musicians and Basquiat influenced each other and worked together; because of the higher status Jay Z represents today and the idea of celebrity that currently inhabits our media, these historical aspects tend to …show more content…

Sotheby’s approached this in a different way than most institutions would, by asking Drake to curate the music to accompany the works in the exhibition that were selected and curated by Sotheby’s specialists. In hopes to boost sales in their private sector and some also speculate to garner younger collectors— they are utilizing Drake’s name to expand their pool of buyers in the best way they know how, social media. The exhibition “I Like It Like This” showcases 56 works of contemporary African-American artists’, range from Jean-Michel Basquiat and Terry Atkins to Kara Walker and Wangechi Mutu. Sotheby’s thought it advantageous to have the global superstar musician interpret the works through his selection of music. During the exhibition, visitors are able to listen to the tracks via Beats by Dre headphones, a highly profitable electronics company co-founded by rapper Dr. Dre. At the media preview, Sotheby’s specialists urged viewers to take photos and share them on social media, specifically Instagram. These specialists even challenged the viewers to pick their own soundtrack for the selected works in order to be featured on Sotheby’s website. As the specialists

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