Six Crimee, 1982

This monumental triptych, or three-part painting, demonstrates Jean-Michel Basquiat’s exploration of his Black, Puerto Rican, and Haitian identity in light of the social and political realities of New York City in the 1980s. The title is a reference to prison slang for alliances among inmates, and the painting depicts six unnamed partners in crime rendered in rough strokes of black paint. Lacking individual features with the exception of grins of grid-like teeth, they hover above lines and numbers that recall hopscotch and other games children play on the street. While the halo above each figure signals innocence, it also reminds of the tragic reality of racial profiling, mass incarceration, and police violence that disproportionally affects Black youth in the US. This reality became personal for Basquiat only one year after this painting was made, when his friend and fellow artist Michael Stewart was killed by police.