“BOOSH-WAH or CIA?”, 1978
Village Voice December 11th 1978 (complete), 160 pgs, Basquiat’s first article ever published, by Philip Faflick.
Condition:
Excellent example, slight age toning, ex.library stamp.
Provenance:
Hemphill Collection, NY
Note:
Basquiat managed to remain completely anonymous until 1978 when they sold their story for $100 to the Village Voice for an article titled “SAMO© Graffiti: BOOSH-WAH or CIA?”, written by Philip Faflick.
“Who the hell was this guy Samo©?”, wrote Faflick, describing the pair as school drop outs. “Does SAMO© in fact provide an alternative?” he asked them, to which they responded, “No way”. “SAMO© is just a means of bringing it out”, explained Basquiat, “a tool for mocking bogusness”. The article also revealed the attention they received at the time, as people wrote their own responses to SAMO©. The positive: “SAMO© CALL HOME AT ONCE! MOTHER NEEDS YOU”, and the less so: “DEATH TO SAMO©”. All of it, they admitted, was taken as a compliment. People even began to believe SAMO© was the CIA – hence the article’s title, “SAMO© Graffiti: BOOSH-WAH or CIA?”. Basquiat added, “We can’t stand on the sidewalk all day screaming at people to clean up their acts, so we write on walls”. Faflick ends with the observation that the pair’s social circle was wary about them speaking with the press, with the writer ominously noting they “were worried that a taste of fame would go to their heads”.
Jean-Michel Basquiat and the Birth of SAMO - The Village Voice