Jean-Michel Basquiat and Ouattara Watts: A Distant Conversation marks the final installment in the Currier Museum’s “Distant Conversations” series, which pairs artists connected by shared ideas across geography and time.

The exhibition features six works by American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960–1988) and seven large-scale paintings by Ouattara Watts (b. 1957), an Ivorian-born artist based in New York. The two first met in 1988 at the opening of Basquiat’s solo exhibition at Yvon Lambert Gallery in Paris—just seven months before Basquiat’s death.

Their meeting sparked a fast-forming intellectual and artistic bond. This show explores the creative possibilities of that brief but powerful connection, imagining how their artistic exchange might have grown had it continued. It also reflects how their shared vision and influence still resonate today.

On view from Oct. 26, 2024, through Feb. 23, 2025, the exhibition is supported by Jessica O’Rourke McKeon, with additional support from Joseph and Carol Morrow, Bill Stelling and William Siroty, M.D., and Karma (NYC).