What We Fund
Prospect.3: "Basquiat and the Bayou"
Basquiat and the Bayou Presented by The Helis Foundation was a once in a lifetime exhibition of ten paintings and drawings by Jean‐Michel Basquiat that considered the work of this important artist in light of his relationship to the American South. It was shown as part of the international triennial Prospect.3: Notes for Now, October 25, 2014 through January 25, 2015.
Curated by Franklin Sirmans, Basquiat and the Bayou Presented by The Helis Foundation was shown at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans, a museum which focuses solely on the art of the American South. The Ogden houses an important collection of works by self‐taught and visionary artists that were on view simultaneously, offering this important series of Basquiat’s works within a larger tradition of self‐taught artists and the many Native American, European, African, Caribbean and Latino traditions that permeate the culture of the Bayou.
A fully-illustrated catalogue accompanied the exhibition, with an essay by Sirmans introducing the work and themes for the exhibition, in addition to essays by preeminent scholars Robert Farris Thompson and Robert G. O’Meally.
