[URBAN NOTE] "Staggering Basquiat show a triumph for the AGO"

[rfmcdonald]

blogTO's Aubrey Jax reacts effusively to the Art Gallery of Ontario's new Basquiat show. Photos and more at the link.

Jean-Michel Basquiat's first retrospective in Canada opens in Toronto this weekend, with nearly 100 large paintings as well as drawings, sculptures, and video filling the halls of "Now's the Time," (a Martin Luther King quote/the title of a painting) at the AGO.

More impactful and comprehensive than past shows like the Brooklyn Musem's Street to Studio, the exhibit witnesses the curators separate Basquiat's works into nine sections that successfully represent the themes and stylistic variety of the multifaceted 1980's American artist. The show's only downfall may come from Toronto itself.

At Tuesday's press preview, speakers engaged in much trumpeting over Basquiat deserving a place in art history (yeah, what?) -- a place that, perhaps unbeknownst to Canadians, the artist achieved long ago. The idea that Toronto needs someone to explain to us why Basquiat is an artist whose work is as important as that of Munch, Twombly, and Rauschenberg is either laughable or insulting, depending on your mood.

The gallery was also self congratulatory about the community outreach it engaged in while preparing the exhibit, hoping to create a show "of Toronto" rather than "for Toronto." The AGO's obvious insecurity over displaying the works of a world famous, highly respected, extremely collectable black artist was embarrassing at best, and distressing at worst.