As part of the parallel events accompanying the exhibition Jean-Michel Basquiat: Untitled, presented by The Intermission gallery in collaboration with Galerie Enrico Navarra, a talk by Dimosthenis Davvetas will take place on Monday, May 26 at 7:00 p.m., at ARCH, the independent, non-profit art space located in Plaka.

Dimosthenis Davvetas is a poet, visual artist, Professor of Philosophy of Art, and geopolitical cultural analyst. He maintained a personal friendship with both Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol in the early 1980s during his time living in New York. In his talk, Davvetas will share personal insights into Basquiat’s life and work, as he experienced it firsthand, while also delving into the atmosphere of 1980s New York and the secrets of Basquiat’s technique, his connection with poetry, and his relationships with other major artists of the time. Davvetas found himself at the heart of the art scene from a young age—around 24—during the radical 1980s. A law graduate and holder of a PhD in Aesthetics from Paris 8, he quickly formed close relationships with Joseph Beuys, Cy Twombly, Marina Abramović, Georg Baselitz, Tony Cragg, Andy Warhol, and many other leading figures who were redefining painting and contemporary art. He wrote about their work with a poet’s eye, contributing essays to museum and gallery catalogues in the U.S. and Europe. He met Jean-Michel Basquiat in New York in 1984, following an introduction by Andy Warhol, whom he had interviewed at the legendary Factory for the French newspaper Libération. Warhol had said to him: “You must meet Jean-Michel Basquiat. He’s a great artist—one of the best of his generation. And he’s a poet-painter like you!” From their first encounter in 1984 until Basquiat’s untimely death on August 12, 1988, the two met frequently and developed an enduring dialogue and friendship, rooted in a shared love of poetry and painting.
Davvetas was the first to write a text about Basquiat’s work in Artforum in 1984, at Basquiat’s own request, and remains the only writer to have conducted his first and only interview published in France.

His conversations with some of the world’s most influential artists of that era—including Basquiat—are compiled in his book Dialogues, published in Greek by Kaktos Editions. During this talk, the audience will be invited to journey back to that electric, creatively charged period, to encounter Basquiat through his artworks and through the powerful, lived storytelling of poet and painter Dimosthenis Davvetas.

Lecturer:
Demosthenes Davvetas                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Date:
26.05.2025, 7:00 p.m.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

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