Bath mats, candles and underpants: would Basquiat have loved or hated all the merch?

"I think comparing [him] to Keith Haring is a good way to try and understand it, he said. Haring was a contemporary and friend of Basquiat's and, according to Woodham, was the first contemporary artist to realise he could put his motifs on a keychain and sell it at pop-up shops, knowing that it wouldn't hurt his market value."

"It's abusive at this point. It's demeaning to the artist, offensive and disrespectful, he says over the phone from New York. Was there anything Basquiat would have categorically hated, I ask? There was that Barbie doll they did and a door mat. It seems so over the top and thoughtless, he says. It's like, OK, let's print this on"

"How would he, for example, have felt about a Basquiat collaboration with MeUndies underpants with the tagline: Jean-Michel Basquiat taught us all to look inward and find our authentic self. MeUndies always strives for authenticity."

Jean-Michel Basquiat's imagery appears on a steady stream of mass-market fashion and merchandise, from Uniqlo T-shirts to kimonos, sports bras, bathmats, candles and underwear. Basquiat died in 1988 at age 27, leaving the artist unable to consent to current merchandising choices. Comparisons to Keith Haring note that contemporary artists have monetized motifs on keychains and pop-up shops without necessarily harming market value. Perspectives differ: some view estate-led marketing as potentially successful or appropriate, while others condemn the proliferation of branded items as diluting meaning, demeaning and disrespectful, citing examples like a Barbie doll and a doormat.

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