3. City-as-School High School
City-as-School High School at 16 Clarkson Street in the West Village is a public high school that focuses on experiential learning through work-study internships. Basquiat transferred to City-as-School in 1976 after just a short time at Edward R. Murrow High School. Basquiat met Al Diaz, a graffitist from the Jacob Riis Projects, at the high school, and they quickly became friends and artistic collaborators.
After they became friends, Basquiat created a fictional character named SAMO, short for Same Old Shit, and the duo spray painted references to SAMO throughout Lower Manhattan. SAMO received media attention due to its anti-establishment and anti-political message, as seen through poems throughout the city stating things like “SAMO AS AN END TO MINDWASH RELIGION, NOWHERE POLITICS, AND BOGUS PHILOSOPHY.“ At 350 Lafayette Street, very faint graffiti with that message was uncovered. Diaz graduated from the school in June 1977, the same time Basquiat left since there was “no point in going back.”