TORRICK ABLACK AKA TOXIC : An “old school” artist

His encounter with the art world was not obvious at first sight. Originally from the Bronx of a Caribbean and Indian family, Toxic (his artist name) began at the age of 13 by investing the streets of the Big Apple by tagging walls and subway trains. He was only 17 when he left the streets to exhibit at the mythical Fashion Moda Gallery in NY Member of the Tag Master Killers collective alongside Rammellzee, he was more of a brother than an artistic companion for Jean-Michel Basquiat. As if to seal this friendship, the three artists are united in the group of "Hollywood Africans" immortalized in 1983 by a triple portrait signed Basquiat and kept at the Whitney Museum in New York. This trio created together on many occasions, influencing each other by their spirit of innovation.

Toxic is today the last survivor of this powerful and extremely influential group on the graffiti scene of the 80s.

Colors, symbols, cabalistic references and personal memories find their place in turn in the artist's paintings and their particularly sophisticated abstract pictorial space. His work in perpetual evolution exudes incredible strength. A great colorist, he enjoys telling us stories and leads us into an attractive and complex universe.

An "old school" artist as he himself claims, his works are exhibited in several international museums and are part of private collections around the world.