Basquiat: Boom for Real, Barbican Art Gallery, 21st September 2017 to 28th January 2018

A perfect example of the phrase ‘be careful what you wish for’, Basquiat’s meteoric rise and equally rapid decline is well captured by this compendious and busy exhibition. But at the same time, the show raises so many questions. Was Basquiat a great artist? How do you judge great art anyway? And what’s the point of a contemporary art exhibition? Basquiat: Boom for Real certainly answers these questions on its own terms but where does this leave contemporary art and curating?