Jean-Michel Basquiat & SAMO

SAMO© Graffiti appeared in New York City from 1977 to early 1980. They were short phrases painted on the streets of downtown Manhattan. The tag SAMO© 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.

Gordon Parks

Gordon Parks was an American photographer that dealt with issues of racism, bigotry and discrimination. He started his photography career in Washington D.C where these issues became very apparent to him. Parks was a trainee under Roy Stryker, an American economist, government official and photographer.

Gordon Parks is well known for his 1942 photograph, 'American Gothic in Washington D.C' - a parody of Grant Wood's painting 'American Gothic', 1930.

Here are some of my favourite pieces by Parks: