With Out Walls "Jean-Michel Basquiat"

WITHOUT Walls: Shooting Star (1990 Channel 4) chronicles the rapid rise and tragic fall of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Ten years ago he was an anonymous teenage graffiti artist. By 1985 he was one of the most celebrated painters of his generation selling work at $30000 a canvas. Today his paintings change hands for millions of dollars each. But Basquiat cannot reap the rich rewards of his success. He died from an heroin overdose in 1988 the victim of a £l000-a-day habit funded by his success as an artist. New Yorker Basquiat was one of the most successful black artists ever but throughout his short life he complained bitterly that he and his work were never taken seriously enough. He became a close friend of Andy Warhol and was rumoured to be Madonna's lover. But beneath the glittering surface he was a serious artist who spoke for the victims of the destructive power of racism.