Ablack was born in
Bronx, New York on January 16, 1965. His mother was
Puerto Rican and his father's family came from
Trinidad. Each member designed their own style for arming letters based on Rammellzee's theory of Gothic Futurism, which describes graffiti as the weaponization of letters in a battle to reclaim language from a "diseased culture" of social control. In the early 1980s, they were among the graffiti artists bringing original art and music from the Bronx and
Queens to the downtown art scene. Basquiat became his mentor and hired him as an occasional studio assistant. While in
Los Angeles, where they were struck by how the film industry portrayed
African Americans, especially during the
Golden Age of Hollywood. In response, they dubbed themselves the Hollywood Africans as a social and political statement to counter the stereotypical portrayals of African Americans in
Hollywood. The trio are depicted in Basquiat's paintings
Hollywood Africans in front of the Chinese Theater with Footprints of Movie Stars (1983) and
Hollywood Africans (1983). Toxic stayed true to the graffiti spraying technique and worked on canvases pinned to the wall. His work became more abstract than the tags he wrote on subway cars. In 1984, Toxic participated in the group show
Arte di Frontiera: New York Graffiti in Italy. He was part of the exhibit
Rapid Enamel at the
University of Chicago in 2014, which was the first showcasing of graffiti in an American institution. His artwork has since appeared in the collections of major museums, including the
Brooklyn Museum, the
Groninger Museum and the
Museum of the City of New York. In 2013, he was featured in the exhibit
Last of the Hollywood Africans: Toxic, Rammellzee and Jean-Michel Basquiat at Londonewcastle Project Space in London. Toxic designed a wallpaper, a printed linen, and a wall panel in collaboration with French textile house
Pierre Frey. Toxic is based in France but spends his time between
Paris,
Florence, and
New York. == References ==