FROM SAMO©, TO SAMO©
EVOLUTION OF STREET ART THROUGH TYPE
Curated by Grace Zeppilli and Jason Halter, the exhibition features a collection of work from New York-based artist Al Diaz. spanning his forty-year career, from his early-teen graffiti collaboration with Jean-Michel Basquiat to his later prolific text-based collage works. 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. This exhibition also includes new artworks by Toronto-based artists Javid Jah, Danilo Deluxo McCallum, Nicolas ‘Alfalfa’ Sanchez, and Kizmet, whose unique & distinct styles express the multifarious evolution of street art that is flourishing in cities all over the globe, including Toronto.