by 
The painting Eyes and Eggs, in typical Basquiat Expressionist style, depicts a dark-skinned man as if exhausted by something. Many human figures in Basquiat’s works seem to have been influenced by some kind of hellish mechanism: the bodies are deformed, the skin shines through and teeth and bones are visible through it, the genitals are often separated. The man’s name is written on his clothes – Joe. In the hands of the character of the picture, he holds a frying pan in which fried eggs are cooked from two eggs. The bright red yolks of these eggs correspond to empty, sparkling eye sockets. From the title of the canvas, the viewer understands that the hero is preparing scrambled eggs from his own eyes.
The artist’s work grabs the viewer’s attention with a dark plot, while at the same time offering something deeper and more complex. The figure of Joe here is both a subject and an object at the same time – the depicted hero prepares a simple dish from his attitude and perception, and invites the viewer to try it.
Year of painting: 1983.
Dimensions of the painting: 302.5 x 246.5 cm
Material: paper, cotton.
Writing technique: pencil.
Genre: figurative painting.
Style: neo-expressionism.
Gallery: Broad, Los Angeles, USA.
