Jean-Michael Basquiat = Art Punk

Jean-Michel Basquiat (December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist and the first artist of African descent to become an international art star. His career in art began as a graffiti artist in New York City, and in the 1980s produced Neo-expressionist painting. Basquiat died due to a heroin overdose on August 12, 1988, at the age of 27.
While a high school student, Basquiat and Al Diaz started spray-painting graffiti on buildings in Lower Manhattan, working under the pseudonym SAMO. The designs inscribed messages such as "Plush safe he think.. SAMO" and "SAMO as an escape clause". In December 1978, the Village Voice published an article on the graffiti. The SAMO project ended with the epitaph "SAMO IS DEAD," inscribed on the walls of SoHo buildings.
SAMO© Graffiti appeared in New York City from 1977 to early 1980. They were short phrases, in turns poetic and sarcastic, mainly painted on the streets of downtown Manhattan. The tag SAMO© (pronounced Same-Oh) has been primarily associated with the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, but was developed mainly as a collaboration between Basquiat and Al Diaz, with help from a few friends. Diaz had previously been part of the New York graffiti scene, using the tag “Bomb I”. Later Basquiat took on the tag himself, creating some non-graffiti work on paper and canvas using that tag, just before and after killing off the SAMO graffiti by painting “SAMO© IS DEAD” around the streets of downtown in early 1980. Basquiat claims the name was first developed in a stoned conversation with high school friend Al Diaz, calling the marijuana they smoked “the same old shit,” then shortening the phrase to "Same Old", then "SAMO".The character of SAMO was first developed by Basquiat, Diaz, and Shannon Dawson (artist) while they were fellow students at City As School high school.(wikipedia)

THE OFFS

Originally from San Francisco and eventually New York City, The Offs were punk/funk band from the late 70's. The Offs counted among their fans and friends numerous people in the downtown New York art/music scene, including artists Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, musician and actor Richard Edson, who played trumpet with the band, and Glenn O'Brien, the peripatetic chronicler of the scene for Andy Warhol's Interview magazine. In 1984, David Ferguson's label CD Presents released a full length album for the band called "The Offs First Record", with artwork by Basquiat.


The Offs were major players in the early days of the San Francisco punk rock scene. Their first record was a self-released 7" single featuring a cover of the Slickers' "Johnny Too Bad" with the Billy Hawk-penned "624803" on the B-side. Subsequent releases include the singles "Everyone's a Bigot" (which appeared on the Alternative Tentacles hardcore/art punk compilation Let Them Eat Jellybeans) and "You Fascinate Me." Lead singer Don Vinil was known for his outrageous on-stage behavior. Fellow San Francisco punk group, Dead Kennedys had their first show with the Offs in 1978. They frequently played at San Francisco's famed Mabuhay Gardens.