The High Museum of Art will present "Basquiat, the Blue Ribbon Paintings, and the Art of Reproduction" from February 19 through May 16, 2027. Organized by the Princeton University Art Museum and curated by Jordana Moore Saggese, the exhibition reunites 11 Blue Ribbon canvases from 1984 that have not been shown publicly together in over three decades.
The 50-work presentation examines Basquiat's engagement with printmaking, mechanical reproduction, and appropriation. The Blue Ribbon paintings fuse acrylic, oil stick, and screenprint, incorporating the Pabst Blue Ribbon logo and bottlecap alongside crowned avatars and anatomical studies.
The exhibition charts Basquist's print evolution from late-1970s Xerox postcards to lithographs, serigraphs, and silkscreens. Basquiat acquired one of the first in-studio color Xerox copiers in New York in 1983, expanding his experimental process. Works by Robert Rauschenberg and printmaker Robert Blackburn appear alongside Basquiat's pieces to show how Blackburn's print workshop and Rauschenberg's collage methods informed his practice.
A scholarly volume by Saggese, published by Princeton University Press, accompanies the presentation. The exhibition occupies the Second Level of the High's Anne Cox Chambers Wing.