50th Anniversary of The Master Blasters

A New York City Graffiti Crew
Hosted by SAR, a 47-year member

Friday, June 20 7-11pm 21+ Event $20 tickets

TMB started in the lower east side of Manhattan around 1975. They were prominent graffiti writers who painted inside and outside subway train cars.  After 1977, most of the original TMB crew had quit, and IZTHEWIZ took the reins. Originally from Ozone Park, IZTHEWIZ left the lower east side and moved back to Ozone Park Queens. He recruited many new talented graffiti writers to the crew. SAR met IZ at the train layup at 104 Oxford on the A line the summer of 1978.  SAR was recruited to be in TMB.  In 1988, the crew recruited many additional writers and started a widespread charge to paint countless train cars in the New York transit system. From 1988-1993 New York was pushing “the clean train movement.”  During this period trains were pulled out of service once they were painted. It was a race to see if the artwork would make it across the city, or be buffed clean before transit.

IZTHEWIZ made SAR the vice president of the crew in 1989.  In 1992 SAR and IZTHEWIZ were invited to participate in a graffiti art show at Fairfield Halls Gallery in England, it was curated by Frank Malt. This was one of the earliest examples of the art world beginning to recognize graffiti as a legitimate art form. Through the 90s, TMB also assisted in running the famous PHUN PHACTORY in 5 points Queens. It was a project to provide graffiti artists with a legal place to paint murals. IZ was on the board of directors.

IZTHEWIZ passed away in 2009, and The New York Times did a full-page story about his life. SAR helped organize several memorials for IZTHEWIZ, and he assumed leadership of TMB. SAR also helped to organize an annual event for famous graffiti writers – most recently in 2010. In 2017 SAR moved to Phoenix and at the grand opening of TRILL hip hop shop in Phoenix, SAR was reunited with his old friend QUIK from New York. Chuck Haus invited SAR to do a solo graffiti show at TRILL, and he met many graffiti artists from the Phoenix area.

In 2020 SAR underwent treatment for cancer. Fellow writer ZOKES stopped by and took SAR out in the city and suggested they go painting. TMB was back.  SAR recruited more than 20 local writers, and they also paint with local legend KAPER RIP. Over the next few years, TMB expanded into Italy, Germany, England, and Amsterdam. In April 2025, KEPTOE, SAR, TEST DESK, and MOES were on display at the AdlerSmith Gallery in Los Angeles at a show honoring the late artist Steve Naxar.

With 47 years invested in TMB, SAR is proud to celebrate the continuation of this world famous legendary graffiti crew from its humble beginnings in the subways of New York City to the art auctions of Paris, France and galleries throughout the United States.