Jean-Michel Basquiat — Untitled (Rocket) For Sale

Untitled (Rocket)

Untitled (Rocket) is a unique 1982 work in oil stick on paper, dating from the single most consequential year of Basquiat's early career. 1982 saw his first solo gallery exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, and Europe, and the beginning of the sustained international attention that would define the rest of his life. Oil stick was one of Basquiat's preferred mediums throughout this period, prized for the density of color and gestural immediacy it offered over conventional paint.

The rocket, as an image, recurs periodically across Basquiat's work as one of several motifs — alongside crowns, cars, and airplanes — gesturing toward speed, ascension, and modern technological power, often deployed with a sense of irony or tension given the more grounded, frequently difficult realities his work simultaneously addressed around race and urban life in early-1980s New York. Works on paper from 1982 are among the most actively collected within Basquiat's overall output, corresponding as they do to his single most critically important year.

As a unique work on paper from 1982, Untitled (Rocket) captures Basquiat at the exact moment his practice was gaining the critical momentum that would carry through the rest of the decade — a genuinely rare opportunity for collectors seeking an authenticated, one-of-a-kind piece from his breakout year.

Guy Hepner offers this unique Basquiat work on paper for sale, with full supporting provenance. Collectors interested in acquiring this piece, or discussing comparable 1982 works, are welcome to contact our New York gallery.