About the Artist
NOC 167
Melvin Samuels was born in 1960 and raised in the Bronx. He was mentored in the mid – 1970's by STAN 153 and NIC 707, and by 1976 NOC was producing highly stylized pieces on trains and smaller airbrushed works on canvas. His style was so good that he could pick and choose whom he painted with. From 1976 to 1981 NOC 167 painted with The Death Squad, Rocstars, TMT, CIA and members of his own crew OTB.
In the early 80's as graffiti began gaining recognition in the fine art world NOC was one of the first writers collected by a hungry public looking for the next Keith Haring. His work hung at the Basel art fair with Haring and Basquiat then shortly after represented by the Sidney Janis gallery. By the early 1990's NOC became disillusioned with the speculation part of the fine art world and he walked away from it. Today he paints for himself and a few private collectors that he trusts.