So as the story continues, I’m back to the art grind with a new studio name – ADŌ WORKS.
My mindset is the same as when I was working under my previous name – SAMŌ,
but now I don’t feel like I’m riding on the back of another artist’s work, in this case – Jean-Michel Basquiat. Upon telling others of my use of the name SAMŌ, it only took a few times of hearing responses along the lines of: “Oh, you mean like that New York artist?” to feel like a tool. It felt less and less like me, and more like I was squatting in someone else’s creativity. One could argue that the use of the word SAMO (as it was originally spelled when used by Basquiat), was actually used by a collective of New York graffiti artists and not just Jean-Michel, which is true, but like it or not, Basquiat’s use of the word is known the most. So justified or not, my use of the name would never be able to escape that shadow.
And so ADŌ came about as a natural evolution of how I express myself artistically, as an individual viewpoint.
If anything, the roots of this name change are a blessing in disguise, as they have come about amid a long and continuing period of reflection that I have submerged myself into. That is to say my reflections are and have always been constant, but have reached a much more profound level in the wake of some recent life changing events that have occurred unexpectedly over the past several months.
Yup…I now have all the more to say with my art…a bigger monkey to get off my back.
Let’s go.
2006 office doodles.
Early sign of the monkey that is repressed creativity?
…Perhaps.
