Signs: Connecting Past and Future Opens in Seoul
Signs: Connecting Past and Future Opens at DDP Museum
This fall, Seoul will again become a stage for the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat. From Sept. 23, 2025 to Jan. 31, 2026, the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) Museum will host Signs: Connecting Past and Future, an expansive look at the artist’s enduring visual language.
Presented in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, the exhibition assembles 70 paintings and drawings alongside eight original notebooks from collections across nine countries. These works place Basquiat’s recurring symbols and metaphors in sharp focus—crowns, halos, anatomical sketches, and fragments of text—inviting viewers to trace the connections between past and present. Visitors will have the rare chance to hear the story behind each work through an audio guide narrated by actor Park Bo-gum.
A Continuing Conversation with Korea
This presentation follows a series of landmark moments for Basquiat in South Korea. In 2023, Heads On: Basquiat & Warhol—presented by Christie’s in partnership with Hyundai Card—brought collaborative and individual works by the two artists to Seoul for the first time in more than thirty years. And in 2021, Royalty, Heroism and the Streets at the Lotte Museum of Art became the largest-ever showing of his work in the country, drawing record attention and sparking new connections with the K-pop world.
From BTS’s V and Big Bang’s T.O.P to EXO’s Chanyeol and Sehun, and even in Pentagon’s lyric “We will be a new Basquiat,” the artist’s spirit—defiant, stylish, and unafraid—has found its way into Korean pop culture. It’s a cross-genre dialogue that feels fitting for Basquiat, whose own work drew energy from music, street culture, and global influences.
Visiting the Exhibition
Signs: Connecting Past and Future runs at the DDP Museum from Sept. 23, 2025 to Jan. 31, 2026. Tickets go on sale Aug. 13, 2025 via NOL Ticket (formerly InterPark Ticket), Naver, Kream, KakaoTalk Booking, and Yes24.