Opening February 7, 2015, at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), Jean-Michel Basquiat: Now’s the Time marks the first-ever major retrospective of the late artist’s work in Canada and will feature over 80 artworks – primarily large-scale paintings and drawings – from private collections and public museums across Europe and North America.

The exhibition is guest curated by renowned Austrian art historian, curator and critic Dieter Buchhart and will explore Basquiat’s groundbreaking and provocative artistic approach. Famous by the age of 20, Basquiat translated 1980s New York into a radical visual language, one that confronted issues of racism, class struggle, social hypocrisy and black history. Inspired as much by high art — Abstract Expressionism and Conceptualism — as by hip hop, jazz, sports, comics and graffiti, Basquiat used recurring motifs to explore issues that he continuously grappled with in his life and art.

Tickets for Jean-Michel Basquiat: Now’s the Time are available for $16.50 for students and youth ages 17 and under, $21.50 for seniors and $25 for adults at ago.net/basquiat. Admission is FREE for AGO members and for children ages five and under. AGO members also have access to an exclusive advance preview before it opens to the public. For more information on AGO memberships, visit www.ago.net/general-membership.