On Thursday 14th May 2026, Woodbury House hosted the Private View of ‘ALWAYS EVER SINCE 83’ — the most significant solo presentation to date by Torrick ‘TOXIC’ Ablack, and a defining moment in the gallery’s programme.

This was not simply an opening reception. It was the formal recognition of an artist whose contribution to the story of contemporary art has been continuous, unbroken, and entirely on his own terms for more than four decades — and whose work has, for the first time, been brought together in a single room to make that fact unmistakable.

From the moment guests arrived on Sackville Street, the weight of the occasion was clear. Inside the gallery, the full arc of TOXIC’s practice — from his earliest works in 1983 through to a major new body of paintings made specifically for this exhibition — surrounded the artist himself. Collectors, curators, peers and friends of the work moved through rooms that, taken together, held forty years in conversation.

The Private View was distinguished by the presence of Torrick ‘TOXIC’ Ablack, who travelled to London for the occasion.

For many guests, the opportunity to spend an evening in TOXIC’s company was the significance of the night. An artist who has been at the centre of contemporary visual culture since 1983 — present in the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, exhibited at Sidney Janis Gallery alongside the most consequential figures of his generation, and continuing to build a singular practice for more than four decades since — was, on this evening, in the room.

Conversations carried through the gallery throughout the night. Guests moved between the works themselves and the artist who made them, with TOXIC speaking openly about his process, his history, and the convictions that have shaped the practice from the beginning. The result was an evening that felt less like an opening and more like a recognition.

Signed exhibition catalogues — featuring a foreword by Woodbury House and an introduction in the artist’s own voice — were available on the evening, allowing collectors to take home a document of the exhibition itself.

A defining feature of the Private View was the experience of seeing TOXIC’s practice held together in a single space for the first time.

The exhibition brings a major new body of work made specifically for this presentation into direct conversation with selected historical pieces dating back to 1983. On the walls of Woodbury House, the earliest expressions of a practice now widely recognised as foundational sit alongside the newest — works made in TOXIC’s studio in Brittany over the past year, carrying the freedom of an artist long past the need to prove anything.

For guests at the Private View, this collapse of distance between then and now was not a curatorial argument made in essays or wall texts. It was visible. Tangible. In the room.

Forty years of practice, held together. One continuous line.

The Private View also marked the release of two exclusive limited edition prints accompanying the exhibition — both available to enquire about through the gallery.

The first is a print release by the artist himself — a signed and numbered edition produced specifically to mark the exhibition, drawn directly from one of the works in the show.

The second is a collaborative release with the Estate of Rammellzee, built on an original print previously released by the estate. TOXIC has hand-finished twenty of those prints, working directly onto the print — placing his own hand in dialogue with one of Rammellzee’s enduring works. Each of the twenty is therefore unique. No two are the same.

It is not a retrospective gesture. It is the continuation of a relationship built in the formative years of New York’s underground — between two artists who were not simply contemporaries, but part of the same creative ecosystem. The release places that relationship back in dialogue with the work, alongside an exhibition that recognises both artists as central to the story of their era.

‘ALWAYS EVER SINCE 83’ is the most comprehensive presentation of TOXIC’s work staged in London to date.

This is not a thematic grouping or a survey assembled after the fact. It is the considered placement of an artist whose practice has shaped the language of contemporary art globally — and whose work, despite that foundational role, has rarely been given the institutional weight in London that it carries in the broader story.

By presenting ‘ALWAYS EVER SINCE 83’ at our flagship Mayfair gallery, Woodbury House has positioned TOXIC’s practice within serious contemporary art discourse in London. The Private View signalled the beginning of that recognition.

‘ALWAYS EVER SINCE 83’ is now open to the public at Woodbury House, 29 Sackville Street, Mayfair, London W1S 3DX, and runs until 26th June 2026. No RSVP is required during normal gallery hours.

Works from the exhibition are available for acquisition. Private viewings can be arranged for collectors seeking deeper advisory discussion, and the full exhibition catalogue — including the foreword by Woodbury House and the introduction in the artist’s own voice — is available digitally and in print.

To enquire about available works, request the catalogue, or receive invitations to future Private Views and artist-led events, please contact [email protected] or call 0203 750 2222.

The Private View marked a moment. The exhibition itself continues — and with it, the practice that has been continuously in motion since 1983.

‘ALWAYS EVER SINCE 83’ is a major solo exhibition by Torrick ‘TOXIC’ Ablack, and his second solo presentation with Woodbury House. The exhibition opened on 15th May and remains on view through 26th June 2026.

The title names 1983 not as the year the art world noticed TOXIC, but as the year he decided — without permission, and without anyone else’s say-so — that he was an artist. What followed has been more than four decades of uninterrupted practice, carried out alongside the most consequential figures of his generation, shaped by a year that crystallised an entire cultural moment.

This is the exhibition that finally tells that story in full.

To understand the weight of this show, it helps to understand the year that titles it.

1983 was the moment New York’s underground was forced into the rooms it had previously been kept out of. The galleries opened their doors. The institutions began to pay attention. A generation of artists who had built their practice on the streets and surfaces of the city walked into the spaces of contemporary art — not as observers, but as authors of what would come next. TOXIC was among them. Not at the edges, not as a peripheral presence, but at the centre of the story.

Forty years later, the practice has not stopped. It has deepened, evolved, and continued — quietly, consistently, and entirely on its own terms.

‘ALWAYS EVER SINCE 83’ is the exhibition that brings that arc into a single room.

The show presents a major new body of work made specifically for this presentation, brought together with selected historical pieces dating back to 1983. The new works carry the freedom of an artist long past the need to prove anything. The historical pieces return the viewer directly to the year the title names — placing the origin of the practice in the same room as its most current expression.

What hangs in the gallery is not a survey of a career. It is forty years held together. One continuous line.

The exhibition is accompanied by two exclusive limited edition print releases.

The first is a print release by the artist himself — a signed and numbered edition produced specifically to mark the exhibition, drawn directly from one of the works in the show.

The second is a collaborative release with the Estate of Rammellzee, built on an original print previously released by the estate. TOXIC has hand-finished twenty of those prints, working directly onto the print — placing his own hand in dialogue with one of Rammellzee’s enduring works. Each of the twenty is therefore unique. No two are the same.

It is not a retrospective gesture. It is the continuation of a relationship built in the formative years of New York’s underground — between two artists who were not simply contemporaries, but part of the same creative ecosystem. The release places that relationship back in dialogue with the work, alongside an exhibition that recognises both artists as central to the story of their era.

Both editions are available to enquire about directly through the gallery.

A full exhibition catalogue accompanies the show — including the complete works list, a foreword by Woodbury House, an introduction in the artist’s own voice. 

The catalogue is available to download here:

‘ALWAYS EVER SINCE 83’ is on view at Woodbury House, our flagship Mayfair gallery, through 26th June 2026.

Visitors are welcome during gallery hours, Monday to Friday.

To arrange a private viewing, or to enquire about available works, please contact the gallery directly.

Woodbury House
29 Sackville Street,
Mayfair,
London,
W1S 3DX

[email protected]
0203 750 2222