“SANE SMITH was here. SANE SMITH was everywhere. SANE SMITH is dead, having jumped from the Brooklyn Bridge. At that was what Monty heard. The farthest-ranging of New York graffiti artists, SANE SMITH wrote his name on billboards and highway overpasses and water tanks everywhere from Far Rockaway to Mosholu Parkway, Sheepshead Bay to Forest Hills, New Lots to Lenox. They’ll be scrubbing his name from walls for the next hundred years.” – The 25th Hour, David Benioff
Maybe you grew up in New York City in the 80s, maybe you visited. Maybe you saw one or more of their innumerable tags somewhere across NYC. Maybe you saw a news report on TV about the guys who painted their tags - SANE & SMITH on the top of the Brooklyn Bridge, so big and so high up that it could be seen for miles around the five boroughs. The eventual lawsuit from that one still holds the record for largest suit against graffiti writers in history -$3 million - the price for fame? Or does it go deeper? The SANE/SMITH response to the city's lawsuit and billing for the damage to the bridge was to tag the bridge once again - fame never takes a day off.
Few writers can claim the level of fame that SANE/SMITH reached, not only holding a hood record (along with BRUZ RIS RIP) for successive ups under every single light in the 60th street tunnel, but also appearing - prominently - in the 25th hour, Spike Lee's opus from 2002 (as well as the novel, although SANE/SMITH is misidentified as one man.) The ever so famous bridge throwup was so amplified by its appearance in the movie that it's been commodified, in the form of shirts from Supreme, and other items that bear the famous picture of the bridge from afar.
The men behind the art are brothers. David, who primarily wrote SANE, passed in 1990. His legacy, however, still shines as brightly as ever to this day - his and his brother's works are still visible all over the city, as well as online, thankfully. Countless sites and publications have highlighted the extensive works of SANE/SMITH - even the movie 'Bomb the System' features a pair of brothers clearly inspired by the Smiths. Although their biggest work, literally and figuratively, was on top of the Brooklyn Bridge, their influence is widespread throughout the culture, as well as mainstream media. Hard work, in this case, most definitely paid off - the talent these two showed off throughout the city took them to literal heights, but the legacy has kept their name ongoing decades later.
These urban hieroglyphs will continue to live on within the deepest, darkest tunnels of the MTA subway system, unscathed by the passing of time, lives and history mere feet from the surface of the city. It’s hard to truly express the work these brothers put in. From both tags and throwies on subway cars to city gates, from subway tunnels to highways, from elaborate pieces in train trestles to full blown mural productions – the duo executed on every single facet of the graff game with pure
proficiency. It is not hyperbole to state that SANE and SMITH are the unrivaled Dynamic Duo of Graffiti. SANE is as important to graffiti as Jimi Hendrix was to Rock and Roll.
Throwie Pillow is proud to showcase their incredible contribution to the culture and help bring their impact to an even broader audience. Now go pick up these legends’ Throwie Pillows and own a piece of indelible NYC graffiti history!!
Few writers can claim the level of fame that SANE/SMITH reached, not only holding a hood record (along with BRUZ RIS RIP) for successive ups under every single light in the 60th street tunnel, but also appearing - prominently - in the 25th hour, Spike Lee's opus from 2002 (as well as the novel, although SANE/SMITH is misidentified as one man.) The ever so famous bridge throwup was so amplified by its appearance in the movie that it's been commodified, in the form of shirts from Supreme, and other items that bear the famous picture of the bridge from afar.
The men behind the art are brothers. David, who primarily wrote SANE, passed in 1990. His legacy, however, still shines as brightly as ever to this day - his and his brother's works are still visible all over the city, as well as online, thankfully. Countless sites and publications have highlighted the extensive works of SANE/SMITH - even the movie 'Bomb the System' features a pair of brothers clearly inspired by the Smiths. Although their biggest work, literally and figuratively, was on top of the Brooklyn Bridge, their influence is widespread throughout the culture, as well as mainstream media. Hard work, in this case, most definitely paid off - the talent these two showed off throughout the city took them to literal heights, but the legacy has kept their name ongoing decades later.
These urban hieroglyphs will continue to live on within the deepest, darkest tunnels of the MTA subway system, unscathed by the passing of time, lives and history mere feet from the surface of the city. It’s hard to truly express the work these brothers put in. From both tags and throwies on subway cars to city gates, from subway tunnels to highways, from elaborate pieces in train trestles to full blown mural productions – the duo executed on every single facet of the graff game with pure
proficiency. It is not hyperbole to state that SANE and SMITH are the unrivaled Dynamic Duo of Graffiti. SANE is as important to graffiti as Jimi Hendrix was to Rock and Roll.
Throwie Pillow is proud to showcase their incredible contribution to the culture and help bring their impact to an even broader audience. Now go pick up these legends’ Throwie Pillows and own a piece of indelible NYC graffiti history!!
