Jean-Michel Basquiat was an extraordinary young artist whose life was tragically cut short.

In Honor of Jean-Michel Basquiat, the one-man show at the New York Theatre Workshop, is about the artist and his life but primarily about his relationship with his friend, Roger Guenveur Smith, the actor/ writer who created the work.

The 60 minute solo show begins with a young Smith talking to his father, an elevator operator, who suggests that he honor his friend Basquiat. A few minutes later, Smith portrays an auctioneer at Sotheby's, guiding the bidding of Basquiat’s most famous work, “Untitled.” The painting, which sold for a record-breaking 110.5 million dollars, was the most expensive American piece of art ever auctioned off. It is a tragic reality of art that when the artist dies, others profit more from his work than he did during his lifetime.

Dressed in a dark suit and barefoot, Smith stands stage right at the mic for the entire show while Marc Anthony Thompson, his live sound engineer, is on the other side of the bare stage. Thompson’s contributions emphasize the words rather than the visual.

Smith and Basquiat met on the streets in LA when Smith rapped as "Hollywatts" and Basquiat was beginning to earn his reputation. The two remained friends until the artist’s death. In one anecdote, Smith reveals that Basquiat gave him a painting that he tacked up at home. His young niece grew jealous because she thought he'd hung another child’s work up. (I wondered if Smith still owns that work and what it is worth today.)

The audience learns a little about Basquiat’s life, but more about Smith's. He says that the artist died of a broken heart at age 27. (Yet the official cause of death was drugs.) Smith includes information about his own life and career but this detracts from his subject. The material he creates consists of personal reminiscences as well as the name dropping of creative figures of the time, civil rights leaders and personal friends and fellow collaborators of the two. Smith laments the fate of Black artists and mentions several who died young.

I expected art, some representations of Basquiat’s work but the only art we see is Smith through his skillful performance. Melodically, he tells his story using repetition like he is rapping, sometimes assuming accents to create other characters. Listening to him is almost hypnotic and the audience must pay close attention. The dialogue is often mesmerizing but sometimes meanders. Smith gets off track and his ideas can be hard to follow at times

In the play Collaboration, the up and coming young Basquiat collaborates with the older Andy Warhol whose career is on the decline.The two artists interact and the audience watches them create.

Smith’s work is an example of exceptional performance art, but the audience leaves the theater with more of an impression of Smith’s skills than knowledge of Basquiat.