Pothos (2017)
Gaspard & Company
Choreography: Gaspard Louis
Live Music: Joshua Starmer & Randall Love
Guest Choreographer: Gerri Houlihan

Pothos is Part 1 to a developing Basquiat diptych, whose second part Portrait was premiered in 2016. Inspired by the life-art of Jean-Michel Basquiat, this diptych is a transmutation of his graphic energy and impulses into choreographic free verse.

As an artist with a multicultural background (Haitian and Puertorican), Basquiat the man and visualist toiled with varying elaborations of his Caribbean American heritage. This engagement was complicated by his mother’s health difficulties and early absence from his life, and the father’s severe demands on him to gain successful integration into the fabled middle class by pursuing a conventional path toward a profession – which ill suited Basquiat’s “way.” After running away, dropping out of high school and being expelled from his father’s home, the young Jean-Michel went through a harsh apprenticeship, with the streets of New York as his workshop and home. Following years as a homeless street artist, spraying graffiti and playing with noise rock, Basquiat had a series of encounters that drew him to the attention of important art impresarios and luminaries. Andy Warhol was among the celebrities that not only recognized his striking artistry, but also offered him stimulating opportunities and almost familial friendship, sending him on the path to a rising international career. With this new chapter, the young artist was able finally to unfold his artistic self under warmer light.