The SAMO© Graffiti
photographed by Henry Flynt
The SAMO© Graffiti appeared in New York at the end of the Seventies and begining of the Eighties, in two phases. The second phase was solo work by Jean-Michel Basquiat. The first phase was an anonymous effort by the team of Basquiat, Al Diaz, and Shannon Dawson. Basquiat was the team's driving force. Flynt photographed the first phase, taking the photos in 1979 without knowing who the graffitists were. When Flynt first exhibited his portfolio, he got to know Diaz and Dawson, and was able to cross-check the authorship of every graffito.
Basquiat had had the idea for SAMO© when he and Diaz were students at City As School High School. Diaz was a graffiti veteran, having had a tag published in a book on graffiti (text by Norman Mailer) in 1974.
The collective graffiti employed anonymity to seem corporate and engulfing. The tone was utterly different from the morose and abject tone of Basquat's solo work. The implication was that SAMO© was a drug that could solve all problems. SOHO, the art world, and Yuppies were satirized with Olympian wit. Site-specific as the piece was, it is enhanced by the rich tropical colors that materialize in the photos.
Read "Viewing SAMO©" by Henry Flynt (PDF, 182k)
The images:
