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Jean-Michel Basquiat took the New York City art world by storm in the early 1980s and gained international recognition by creating powerful and expressive works that confronted issues of racism, identity and social tension. Although his career was cut short by his untimely death at age 27, his groundbreaking drawings and paintings continue to challenge perceptions, provoke vital dialogues and empower us to think critically about the world around us. Jean-Michel Basquiat: Now's the Time marks the first major retrospective of the artist's work in Canada and will feature close to 85 large-scale paintings and drawings from private collections and public museums across Europe and North America.

Guest-curated by renowned Austrian art historian, curator and critic Dieter Buchhart, the AGO's exhibition will be the first thematic examination of the artist's work. Inspired as much by high art — Abstract Expressionism and Conceptualism — as by jazz, sports, comics, remix culture and graffiti, Basquiat translated the world around him into a provocative visual language.

After Toronto, Jean-Michel Basquiat: Now's the Time will travel to the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, in July 2015. An AGO-produced exhibition catalogue will be available in English and Portuguese with excerpts from Olivier Berggruen, Jeffrey Deitch, Francesco Pellizzi, Glenn O'Brien, Robert Farris Thompson and Franklin Sirmans.

This is a ticketed exhibition. Bookings open to AGO members as of January 12, 2015, and public tickets go on sale January 23, 2015. AGO members will be offered free admissionand an exclusive preview in the days leading up to the exhibition's opening.