Untitled (Radiohead)

Author: Jeremy Davoodzadeh

One of the artists we touched upon during Seminar 1 was Jean-Michel Basquiat. This artist’s works are not focused on superficial beauty, which I was fascinated by. These childlike, chaotic masterpieces are beautiful in their special way. They had my attention in a special way, too, because they gave off similar feelings to those I get when I listen to one of my favorite bands, Radiohead. Their sound often radiates feelings of alienation and dystopia. These melancholic, eerie-sounding songs are what played in my mental record player as I examined and analyzed Basquiat’s artwork, especially “Untitled (Skull).” The painting heavily conveys emotional isolation, which is often what’s also conveyed in many of Radiohead’s albums. That being the case, seeing that the skull appears to have many “components” to it, I saw the perfect opportunity to mash up Radiohead with Basquiat to show the strong ties I sense between the band and the artist. This work is Basquiat’s skull painting photoshopped to display the cover art of various Radiohead albums.