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Legendary Tagger Iz The Wiz Dies
By
Jen Carlson
Published Jun 29, 2009
Modified Jun 29, 2009
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Jun 29, 2009
Modified Jun 29, 2009
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Graffiti legend Iz the Wiz (real name Michael Martin) died at age 50 on June 17th, and has finally received an obituary from the Paper of Record. The artist tagged subway cars in the 1970s and 80s with his signature in "fat capital letters spray-painted on a door, below a window, across an entire car or even along the full length of a train." Throughout his career as a graffiti artist, he got his tag on every line in the subway system more times than any other, which means if you didn't ride in a car with his name, you probably saw one in a movie. He even did a two-car homage to John Lennon after he was killed in 1980, and was one of the first to work on the Phun Phactory building (now 5 Pointz).
On his Myspace page he wrote: "I started writing graffiti in 1972 and have been active ever since!!! Although I have slowed down quite a bit since 1996 when I was diagnosed with kidney failure, I still paint any chance I get whether it's the occasional Fr8 or a canvas or just drawing in a black book, I try to keep active as much as possible!!!! I miss the subway trains, it was such a beautiful time when they were running." After the jump there's video of him bombing his last train.
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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