VaNatta Ford (Assistant Professor, Africana Studies) and Brynn Hatton (Visiting Assistant Professor, Art History) host an informal conversation on Jean-Michel Basquiat and the dynamic cultural spheres that informed his multi-disciplinary practice circa 1983, the year he made Defacement: The Death of Michael Stewart. Dr. Ford will contextualize Basquiat against the vibrant New York hip-hop scene of the early ’80s, and Dr. Hatton will focus on the artist’s ambivalent relationship to the business of contemporary art, as well as aspects of Defacement that distinguish the piece from his larger body of work. Free and open to the public; dialogue and participation encouraged.