Part of New York’s ‘cool’ downtown scene, Jean-Michel Basquiat was often cast as a celebrity figure during his lifetime rather than being fully recognised for the seriousness and depth of his artistic practice. Since his death, however, there's been a re-evaluation of his work and its importance to contemporary art.

As someone who has always admired Basquiat, it's been rewarding to go back and look again at the language of his work: the crowns; fractured heads; text fragments; boxing references; and the raw urgency of his mark-making. In revisiting his paintings, one work in particular stood out. It featured the classic comic book heroes: Superman; Batman & Robin; and the Lone Ranger.

As a boy, I was obsessed with Superman comics and constantly copied drawings of him in flight so the urge to borrow Basquiat’s freedoms and reintroduce these iconic figures into my own painting was too strong to resist and I found that I revelled in the expressive licence he allowed himself....