Hypebeast has published an extensive new interview with Al Diaz exploring the origins of SAMO©, his early creative relationship with Jean-Michel Basquiat and the history that continues to inform his work today.
Published alongside SAMO : TRANSATLANTICATION, Diaz's UK debut exhibition at D’Stassi Art, the feature sees the New York artist reflect on a story that has become increasingly mythologised over the decades.
Reconsidering the history of SAMO©
Created by Diaz and Basquiat in late 1970s New York, SAMO© emerged as something deliberately different from conventional graffiti writing. Rather than functioning simply as a name or tag, the project used carefully constructed statements, satire and language to address the broader public moving through downtown Manhattan.
Speaking to Hypebeast, Diaz describes SAMO© as closer to an invented product or conceptual proposition, one whose meaning was never intended to be reduced to a single phrase.
“People always think that it somehow stands for, or translates to, ‘same old shit,’ but it’s not that.”
Diaz explains that the word developed from the expression “same old, same old” before taking on its own meaning within the language he and Basquiat shared with friends. From there, SAMO© evolved through stories, pamphlets and eventually the cryptic statements that began appearing across Lower Manhattan.
Before the mythology
The interview also returns to Diaz and Basquiat's friendship before the international recognition that would later surround Basquiat's career. The pair met while attending City-As-School in New York and began developing SAMO© while still teenagers.
Diaz recalls a collaborative process built around language, editing and the construction of statements intended to make people stop and think. For Diaz, the distinction remains important: SAMO© was not conceived as conventional subway graffiti, but as communication directed towards anyone encountering it in the city.
This history sits at the centre of Diaz's decision to revive SAMO© in 2016. As its cultural recognition grew, he felt increasingly compelled to reassert both his authorship and the original conceptual intent behind the project.
SAMO : TRANSATLANTICATION
That conversation continues through SAMO : TRANSATLANTICATION, Diaz's first solo exhibition in the UK.
Presented at D’Stassi Art in London, the exhibition brings together new SAMO© works alongside Diaz's text and subway signage pieces, mixed media works and interventions produced during his time in the city.
The exhibition looks beyond a single historic moment, presenting Diaz as an artist whose practice has continued to develop through language, public space, signage, found material and conceptual writing for more than five decades.
Read the full Hypebeast interview with Al Diaz:
Al Diaz on the Real Meaning Behind SAMO With Basquiat
Discover the exhibition:
Al Diaz: SAMO : TRANSATLANTICATION