“SAMO IS DEAD” by the prolific and legendary New York artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat, painted sometime in the early ‘80s.

Opening on February 7th will be a collection of works by the late and great Jean-Michel Basquiat on view at Gagosian's 555 West 24th Street location in New York. In case you wanted to purchase a mass produced reproduction of one his works and stare down at it while you eat day in and day out in anticipation for the show, Gagosian has you covered with this Basquiat plate.

Yesterday we caught up with curator Aaron Rose and talked about his new video for MOCAtv, a project, which focuses on the late New York artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. Made in collaboration with Los Angeles based musician Sam Spiegel (AKA DJ Squeak E Clean, one half of DJ duo N.A.S.A.), Aaron and Sam decided they would not pay direct homage to Basquiat and his work.

We are getting to that time of the summer, where London gets a sporting focus for a few weeks, much to the chagrin of locals who probably get enough tourism as it is. But the arts programs and curation at some of London's top private galleries and public institutions have been spot on all year, and Gagosian Gallery has got into spirit with Warhol and Basquiat's 1985 collaboration, Olympic Rings.

Back in 1979, photographer Henry Flynt extensively documented the graffiti work of SAMO, the young teenage Jean-Michel Basquiat. Flynt's photographs go beyond simply capturing the work, but gasp their energy and significance as poetic vandalism scrawled  and integrated into the urban environment.

We go back to 1983, an era of hip-hop, graffiti, and street culture that our April 2011 Art In the Streets Issue covers, and give you the masterpiece work of graffiti artist, musician and futurist, Rammellzee, and hip-hop artist K-Rob, "Beat Bop." And to round it out, Jean-Michel Basquiat did the single's cover artwork. Listen after the jump . . .

As we get set to release our April 2011 issue, created in conjunction with the MOCA and their "Art In the Streets" exhibition, we look at a clip of one of the early pioneering films depicting early 1980's NYC graffiti and street culture, the Jean-Michel Basquiat starring, Glenn O'Brien written "Downtown 81." Watch Basquiat dance after the jump . . .

We end the work week with a music video that Fab 5 Freddy told us about this week: Blondie's "The Hardest Part." Fred was telling us about how he and LEE painted all the background and floor pieces, and Jean-Michel Basquiat came in and finished off the wall with various writings. Amazing time. Historical time. Watch the video after the jump . . .

Chances are, going to Tasmania might not happen for you in 2011. Not that it isn't a nice place, but getting to Australia is a difficult proposition for anyone in the world, no matter you live. But this may entice you: the opening of the Museum of Old and New Art, aiming to be Australia's first "subversive adult Disneyland, with erotic art installations, intersecting with themes of life and death." More after the jump . . .

This Spring, TASCHEN is releasing one the most highly-anticipated books of the year, a book simply titled, Basquiat. Leonhard Emmerling, who authored both TASCHEN’s Jean-Michel Basquiat and Jackson Pollock books, has compiled what looks to be one of the more detailed explorations on Basquiat to date. Exclusive images of inside the book after the jump . . .