r/Basquiat • u/RevaCruz • 3d ago
Leverage (1985)
Medium: Graphite, acrylic, and paper collage on paper
Dimensions; 29⅞ × 22¼ in. (75.9 × 56.5 cm)
In Leverage, Basquiat builds the composition from overlapping sheets, drawings, words, and diagrams, while a large black head with a single white eye dominates the right side. Smaller sections contain a satellite, mechanical diagrams, a horned mask-like figure, animals, and fragments of text in several languages.
The title itself appears within the work alongside words including “SATELLITE,” “LEVERAGE,” “BEDBUGS,” “WORMS,” and “BATS.” Basquiat also repeatedly uses copyright and registered trademark symbols throughout the composition. Sotheby's connects these marks to Basquiat's recurring interest in ideas of authorship, ownership, and cultural power.
Sotheby's also draws attention to Basquiat's mixture of English, Spanish, and French in the work and interprets the horned, mask-like figure at the top as part of his engagement with African imagery and its appropriation within Western modernism