Codex
SAMO© first appears as a tag on a New York city wall in 1978

two blocks down from Aswad bookstore. It is a kind of Codex

to speak the unspeakable as if it were a confession on redbrick

or brownstone in the hard years. Downtown, was Jean’s street

studio so was the fridge, TV, wall and floor in our apartment.

He saw no division between earth and sky. To call it graffiti

is to call hieroglyphics gibberish. That’s ignorant. This is Jean

ordering a tequila to test his outer limits. It is a summer night

and we have rented two 35-mm cameras. He has figured

out that a painting is stronger than memory, passports, planes

and nicotine. The curtains are drawn but still no money for

canvases or rent. After red wine he swears he heard the wall

say – let your wrists be free. In the face of all this, he was kin

to me. This is a photograph of Jean after the ten-minute set

at the Mudd Club. He says – It’s not him and shows more

interest in streetlamp above us. Look the camera is guessing

Being a self, is a controlled hallucination generated by the brain.

The night is a black moon. The Empire State building has always

been a lead character in his inner movie. From the loft, it glows

orange. This Jean and he says – If you can’t see his three-point

crown you should see a doctor. He is divided and dying for

a piss. He presents as an image of a man and as matter in motion. 




                                                  Have a listen to this. (Distorted voice)

                                                  The transcripts of both men. If you give me

                                                  A day or two. I can clear out the background

                                                  noise. You can change your dollars at the bodega