zachary5@yorku.ca
A writer and award-winning artist and curator, Zachary's research focuses on the idea of the artist as brand, exploring the concept's interaction with race, class, and identity. His research offers a decolonising analysis of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s artworks, exploring the impact of Basquiat’s Afro-Caribbean heritage, appropriation, and commodification on his work. Central to his study is the popular labeling of Basquiat as “The Black Picasso,” a moniker that both includes and others the artist within the Western art canon. Using theoretical frameworks such as Homi K. Bhabha's concepts of mimicry and hybridity to interpret semiotic analyses of image and text within a postcolonial framework, Zachary critically examines how Basquiat’s art functions as a postcolonial counter-narrative. His work will contribute to the decolonisation of cultural narratives, exploring the effects of commodifying BIPOC artists.
Keywords: Decolonial, Postcolonial, African Diaspora, Basquiat, Branding, Commodification, Capitalism, Anti-Racism