Metallica Drummer Puts $12 Million `Boxer’ Basquiat Up for Sale
By Lindsay Pollock
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Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) — Lars Ulrich, the drummer for the heavy-metal band Metallica, is selling a nearly 8-foot wide Jean- Michel Basquiat portrait of a boxer at Christie’s International in New York on Nov. 12.
Christie’s said the 1982 painting is estimated to sell at about $12 million.
“Untitled (Boxer)” was among the highlights of a 2005-2006 Basquiat retrospective that toured several museums, including the Brooklyn Museum.
Basquiat’s fighter, with a black skeletal face topped with a white crown, raises his gloves in victory.
“It’s a proxy self-portrait,” said Brett Gorvy, Christie’s international co-head of postwar and contemporary art. “The black artist as defiant hero.”
Raised fists are a reference to black empowerment, Gorvy said. The painting will adorn the cover of Christie’s contemporary art auction catalog.
The Danish-born, San Francisco-based Ulrich is a longtime collector, favoring colorful expressionist art inspired by primitivism. He sold a group of paintings at Christie’s in 2002, including Basquiat’s 1982 “Profit I” which fetched $5.5 million.
Metallica’s new album, “Death Magnetic,” released last month, features tunes like “Broken, Beat & Scarred,” and “Cyanide.”