A Familiar Scent Remains, Mural Sized 48x109

Year2022

Hand SignedVerso 

Condition Excellent 

Not Framed 

Purchased fromDealer 2023 

Story / Additional InfoIn Familiar Scent Díaz offers intricate wordplay using the everyday ephemera of New York’s subway system lexicon. As a first-generation graffiti artist, Díaz innovates the alphabet and coded language to communicate and to provoke. Diaz began tagging under the name Bomb-One in his early teens. He and Basquiat spray-painted fragments of irreverent slogans on buildings around SoHo and the School of Visual Arts. Since 2016, Diaz has revived the SAMO© tag and updated its political commentary for the Trump era. He also cuts out and rearranges letters from service change posters and wet paint signs from the New York City subway system to create poignant collaged anagrams. Díaz has something real to say. 

Certificate of AuthenticityArt Brokerage 

Additional InformationSought After 1st Generation Graffiti Artist 

LID160796

Al Diaz - United States

Art Brokerage: Al Diaz American Artist: b.1959. Born and raised Puerto Rican in New York City, he was known by age 15 as a prolific and influential, first-generation subway graffiti artist. During the early 70s, his popular and recognized name was "BOMB-1." Al Diaz is known for his friendship with Jean-Michel Basquiat and collaboration on SAMO©…, a well-known graffiti project appearing in lower Manhattan from 1978 to 1980. The tag and text slogans became known quickly on the streets and in the local newspaper media because of their wit and sardonic humor. Since Basquiat's rise to fame, the SAMO©… legend has become a globally recognized graffito and has been celebrated as cutting social commentary throughout contemporary art history. Al Díaz's career spans five decades. Listings wanted.