It’s late-70s Manhattan, New York City is on the brink of bankruptcy, houses are abandoned and torched, streets are littered with broken glass, and a community of punk and jazz youth blossom in the city’s corners of violence and depravation. To coincide with the upcoming NGV exhibition, TPH is putting on an encore screening of this fascinating doc on one of the most original street artists, Jean-Michel Basquiat.

His graffiti that articulated a broken city and ‘not 2-nite homey blues’ first caught the eye of the Manhattan community, within and beyond the art world.

This documentary brings together Basquiat’s collaborators and peers, from Al Diaz to Fab Freddy 5, from this early period alongside never-before-seen footage of Basquiat’s works to remember a curious period from New York City’s history.

Rating

M

Duration

78 MINS