Abstract
Art has been used to express reality from the beginning, portraying landscapes or our inner emotions. But no other artistic movement is more connected to everyday life than graffiti. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, American cities, especially New York, were crawling under graffiti. Young teenagers, mostly African-Americans and Latinos, were tagging the walls of cities to have a voice in the American society. Al-Diaz started his graffiti career at this exact time in New York under the name of BOMB1. However, he is known for his work with the painter Jean-Michel Basquiat when they created SAMO. The fictional character was about delivering messages, making people think about the state of the world. In fact, a lot of SAMO’s graffiti end with the word THINK. However, in 1981 the duo ended and SAMO died. But after President Trump’s election, Al-Diaz decided to bring back SAMO to confront the American society with its reality. He proceeded to tag the walls of New York with phrases about sexism, the environment or the current pandemic. Al-Diaz, nowadays, uses more his WET PAINT character than SAMO. WET PAINT is primarily present in the New York subways, therefore, at the views of thousands of people an hour. Just like graffiti in the 1980s, WET PAINT uses the subways to be seen but also to have an impact and make people think about their condition.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
The Arts in Social, Political, and Community Life
KEYWORDS
AL-DIAZ, STREET ART, SAMO, WET PAINT, CONTRONTING, REALITY
