TIMED TO THE GLOBAL FRENZY SURROUNDING FIFA’S ARRIVAL IN MIAMI, PAMM’S NEW BASQUIAT EXHIBITION OFFERS A RARE CHANCE TO ENCOUNTER THE ARTIST’S LEGENDARY 1982 UNTITLED (SKULL) IN PUBLIC, A PAINTING THAT HAS SPENT FAR MORE TIME IN ART-WORLD LORE THAN ON MUSEUM WALLS.
BY CHIARA ELBAZ
By the time Jean-Michel Basquiat painted Untitled (1982), better known as “Skull,” he had become an artist capable of translating rage, race, celebrity, and mortality into a visual language the art world still struggles to fully decode. Now, the painting arrives at Pérez Art Museum Miami as the centerpiece of Basquiat: Figures, Signs, Symbols, marking a rare public presentation of one of the artist’s most recognizable works. Acquired by Kenneth C. Griffin in 2024, Skull remains both iconic and elusive. Curated by Franklin Sirmans, the exhibition traces Basquiat’s recurring symbols, fractured anatomies, and coded references across nearly 30 works, positioning him as one of the defining visual intellectuals of the late twentieth century. As FIFA turns the world’s attention toward Miami, PAMM quietly underscores a parallel truth: the city is no longer merely hosting global culture; it is helping define it.
