In 1983, Jean-Michel Basquiat painted him into history. Forty years later, he is still making history himself.

Torrick ‘TOXIC’ Ablack was there at the beginning — not as a bystander, but as a central figure in one of the most explosive and consequential cultural moments of the twentieth century.

He ran with Tag Master Killers under the mentorship of Rammellzee. He stood in the rooms in Los Angeles with Basquiat — an experience that became the subject of ‘Hollywood Africans’, now one of the most celebrated and politically charged paintings in the history of contemporary art. He exhibited at the Sidney Janis Gallery in December 1983 alongside Basquiat, Haring, Futura, and Rammellzee — the defining names of a movement the art world could no longer ignore.

And then — while others built careers trading on proximity to that world — TOXIC simply kept painting.

No compromise. No leverage of famous names. No repositioning for commercial gain. Just the work, year after year, decade after decade, carried forward with the same instinct and integrity.

‘Always Ever Since 83’ brings that story into full view — new works made specifically for this show alongside major earlier works dating all the way back to 1983. Over four decades. One unbroken practice. A body of work that is historically important and, right now, at full force.

This is not a comeback. It is a declaration.

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