The SAMO tag accompanied short phrases, which were poetic and satirical advertising slogans, mainly spray painted on the streets of downtown Manhattan.
[6] Basquiat took the lead in creating a character called SAMO for the Spring 1977 issue of their school newspaper, the Basement Blues Press, which focused on philosophy and alternative religions.
"[7] The concept was further developed in a theatre-as-therapy course in Upper Manhattan (called "Family Life") that was used by the trio as part of the City-As-School program.
[8] The City-As-School 1977/78 Yearbook includes a photo of the SAMO graffiti: "SAMO© AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO PLASTIC FOOD STANDS.
SAMO was primarily written on buildings, but they also did it in elevators, public toilets, and on the D train in the New York City Subway.
[12] Many of these retained the same ideas as the comic strip SAMO of high school: But they also used it to make critical comments towards the art scene in SoHo and college students comfortably studying in art schools: Some of the comments seemed to look critically at consumer society as a whole: People began to notice the graffiti appearing on walls all over downtown, recognizing the strange phrases, but no one knew who did them.
[6] Sometimes the SAMO© graffiti would refer to its own spread, as in a large, mural sized, multiple choice graffiti: Art critic Jeffrey Deitch called it "disjointed street poetry" and remembered that "Back in the late seventies, you couldn't go anywhere interesting in Lower Manhattan without noticing that someone named SAMO had been there first.
After first exhibiting the photos he got to know Al Diaz, and Shannon Dawson who helped him uncover who did which tag.
[15]Basquiat then started hanging around with Haring and other School of Visual Arts students Kenny Scharf and John Sex.
[14] Although Basquiat was to say there was "no ambition" in the work at all, it is striking to see the places the SAMO graffiti were targeted: around the SoHo galleries, and even up at the School of Visual Arts.
Glenn O'Brien notes that "Ninety percent of SAMO graffiti was executed in the heart of the art neighborhood.
"[16] In April 1979, Basquiat attended the Canal Zone Party hosted by Michael Holman and he revealed himself as SAMO.
[19] For the movie Downtown 81 (2000), Basquiat was filmed in streets of the Lower East Side recreating much of his SAMO graffiti.
Henry Flynt, Peter Moore, Martha Cooper, and Glenn O'Brien, are responsible for the few documented photos the original SAMO graffiti.
[21] After Donald Trump's 2016 presidential election victory, Diaz felt compelled to resurrect the SAMO tag.
"My current work deals mostly with present-day life on this massively screwed up planet of ours," he told artnet News.
To mark the 30th anniversary of Basquiat’s death on August 12, 2018, Adrian Wilson conceived a commemorative tribute, to which Diaz added a SAMO tag on the front gates of his former home and studio at 57 Great Jones Street in NoHo, Manhattan.
[32][33][34][35] The exhibition was notable for its oversized Same Old Visitors book in which graffiti artists, former Basquiat friends, and the general public added messages and created art of their own.
[36] Wilson kept the gallery open until October 21, 2018 but lack of sales meant it was not economical viable to invest in the space going forward and it became a housewares store.