LTVSquad

Category: Graffiti

Graffiti Related Posts

  • Underbelly Arrest Roundup, Demands to Open it to Public

    Underbelly Arrest Roundup, Demands to Open it to Public

    Gothamist continues to cover the Underbelly story in depth. Today they have a roundup of stories from some of those who have been arrested. Our original estimate of a dozen or so people having been arrested has continued to trend upward, with sources stating that the tally at the moment is closer to 30.

    NY Times Art Beat has similar coverage, with quotes from the MTA stating they have no intent to paint the abandoned station shell.

    If the comments within the NY Times article are any indication, the public really wants to see this art installation. Some are clearly willing to risk arrest just to see it. Let me state this again: The MTA should throw some lights down there and open the space to the public. Charge a high admission fee. This is great, low cost potential revenue stream for the MTA. The only argument I’ve heard against this has been that it would cost too much to create a viable entrance that is safe to the public. This is simply not true. We have it from sources within the MTA that the station shell is accessible behind locked doors, and the only work that would be needed would be the installation of a temporary staircase (the structure of which is already in place).

    There is a huge market for this. 8 years ago, nearly on this exact date, a line stretching at least 5 blocks long formed as art lovers and tunnel foamers eagerly waited for chance to crawl down a manhole and view artwork from yours truly, Margaret Morton, Revs, Julia Solis, and many others. Barely 1/4th of the people on the line that day got to see the installation, and the one day only event was never repeated.

    There is a huge market for this type of art show. Each visitor paid $10 to enter – and that was to see a tunnel and works by perhaps a dozen artists. This station includes art from over 100 artists. A black tie opening with an entrance fee of $100 would sell out. The public at large would probably pay 15 to 20 a pop to see this project. The MTA is sitting on a gold mine. They should do what a real public authority would do: Open it to the public and make us some money!

    In completely unrelated news, we now have a second batch of photos from underbelly available for your viewing pleasure. With I like about this batch are some of the small detail shots. It seems some artists put added touches in the tunnel space. Smaller and less obvious than the large works, these small bits give the space much more personality.

  • Astoria Graffiti Time Warp

    Astoria Graffiti Time Warp

    A lotta queens people lately were talking about the old woolworth’s store on Ditmars and 31st street. In it’s recent conversion to a CVS, old siding was taken down out front, revealing the old woolworth’s name for a short time before it was covered over again.

    What no one seems to have talked about though was the panel on the corner of the building which revealed an array of old historic graffiti tags. See the photo below. How many old school names do you see? Looks like an original Chino tag to me, along with a Rost, note, and others.

    This panel was covered over a day after this shot was taken, so the graffiti, just like the old outline of the old woolworth’s sign, is entombed once again.

  • The Underbelly Project

    The Underbelly Project


    Located in an abandoned section of NYC subway tunnel, the Underbelly project was a major art production with over 100 artists involved. Here is a rare glimpse into this gallery of grand art.

  • Underbelly, Dissed.

    Underbelly, Dissed.

    Gothamist today has put up photos that have been floating around the internet for a few days now, showing the underbelly project completely dissed. .

    it appears the vandals only went after the ‘street art’, as there are no photos of the various bits by graffiti artists having been dissed.

    It’s pretty easy to deduce that this is yet another salvo in the war between street artists and graffiti artists. While many artists have no issues working together, others clearly have a beef with ‘street art’. That beef is rather well summed up in this comment:

    the streets belong to writers and street “artists” will never be vandals. sitting at home on their powerbooks, spending hours and hours behind a computer, drawing perfect bezier curves, creating stencils, having a team of people help you create a tiled poster at kinkos to be wheat pasted. all that time, all that preparation. it contradicts what graffiti is all about. it’s a turf war and it only takes 2 seconds to line a piece of street art.

    Haters gunna hate baby.

  • Multiple Underbelly-related Arrests

    Multiple Underbelly-related Arrests

    It didn’t take long for people to start getting arrested in their attempts to view the underbelly project.

    Apparently in the last few days a group of 6 people tried to access the abandoned station and were greeted by the NYPD. The result of course was 24 hours going through the system.

    A separate rumor is going around the newsroom that a crew of foreign journalist attempted to access the location and were also arrested, DCPI press passes be damned.

    I say it very often on this blog, and I’ll say it again: Don’t go into NYC subway tunnels. It’s bad idea. Tunnels are confined spaces where injury and death are readily possible. The photos of this project are all over the internet. People continue to send us these photos. They are not hard to find. If you want to see the art, do so from your own home.

    You’re also wasting the NYPD’s time. There’s few of them on patrol these days and I’d imagine they don’t want to waste time on dumb trespassers. Give them patrol guys a break. I’m sure the last thing they want to be doing is sitting in some dark dirty tunnel waiting for you to show up.

  • Response to Underbelly, from MTA and the public.

    Response to Underbelly, from MTA and the public.

    First, let’s look at what the MTA has to say about this situation – from the second ave subway saga blog

    MTA Response:

    I asked the authority about their official response to the so-called exhibition, and it was as you might expect. “NYC Transit is working with the NYPD in the investigation and follow-up on this matter,” MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan said. “Further inspections will be made to this and other similar locations throughout the system to better secure these areas. We remind the public that any such incursions into unauthorized areas of the transit system is considered trespassing and is punishable by law not to mention, dark and dangerous.”

    Meanwhile, I learned this morning as well that an MTA work crew went into the old South 4th Street station to explore the site. They were spotted entering the shell at the northbound end of the Broadway stop on the G train, and Donovan told me that the authority’s crews are working to identify potential access points and to seal up these abandoned areas. “New York City Transit staff were on site today to assess the station’s security and make some adjustments to make it more secure,” Donovan said.

    Next, let’s see what the public has to say about this art project:

    PUBLIC RESPONSE:

    Second ave subway comments:

    #
    Tsuyoshi says:
    November 2, 2010 at 7:30 pm

    They should open it up and charge admission.
    #
    Andreas says:
    November 2, 2010 at 8:53 pm

    I knew it was there..! The site is accessible without crossing the crosstown tracks, it’s just a few feet North of the SB platform at the Broadway Station. My guess is that this area would be the vertical circulation to the never to be station… I saw construction workers a couple of times over there… I wish i had the opportunity to visit this art space!

    Gizmodo comments-

    Either this is one cool art space or the biggest urban legend ever to be invented that will probably cause art loving adventure seekers life, limb or an entry into their newly minted criminal record if they’ve committed none thus far. Having said that, crap, I might try to find the damn thing.

    Gothamist comments:

    [1] | RJ Rushmore

    I went down to see The Underbelly Project, and it was one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen. Just the sheer amount of art they were able to get down there. And the space is so unique…

    4] | BoozeParty

    Good stuff. I should do a little tunneling and check some of this out.

    Conclusions:

    I think the MTA’s opinion is clear. Going in tunnels to do anything while not being an MTA employee or contractor is ILLEGAL and FROWNED UPON. There’s good reason for that. Dozens of people die in the subway tunnels every year. They’re not ‘people friendly’.

    The public, on the other hand, seems to fall into 3 groups:
    1) People who will pay money to go there
    2) People who would willing to be blindfolded and lead around in circles for hours then get to see it – these people would probably pay triple the price.
    3) Artists who are hating on it for various reasons.

    My sources tell me you don’t need to go into a subway tunnel to access – that there is at least one hidden doorways to it that are safe for MTA employees to gain entry. Given that public safety could very likely be accommodated, it is my position that the MTA should give the people what they want: Open this to the public. Charge admission. People will come from around the world to see it. If it can’t be opened day to day, Let the transit museum give tours once every month or two. Again: Charge a lot of money. The MTA could make a decent clip off this project over time.

    Yes, apparently it was created illegally, but when you overlook that fact and instead look what we’re left with: A station full of art where one never existed – this is quite the potential win story for NYC and the MTA as a whole. A huge collection of artwork, given to the MTA for free, by masters of their trade!
    If you agree, write to the MTA and let them know what already seems pretty clear: The people want in. The people will pay money. You have nothing to fear but fear itself!

  • SWAG

    SWAG

    Swag is a lovely rarefied print zine from the ever creative Utah. Yes, you want to get one.

  • Underbelly, Exposed.

    Underbelly, Exposed.

    There’s going to be a lot of buzz in the morning over this mysterious link that is just now starting to appear on the radar – http://www.theunderbellyproject.com/. There’s already photos/video/slideshow/article in The Sunday Times of London (paywall). I imagine the local media will be all up on this during the next week.

    Here’s are the facts: Somewhere under NYC there’s an abandoned subway station, and in said station, over 100 artists created works of art in this space. The works of art run the range from installations to paintings, aerosol to utterly insane. The names behind these works run from the very well known to the obscure. Where else in the world will you find a Sane piece feet from a Swoon? Some other well known names: Roa, Mark Jenkins (who’s use of this space is described by many as utterly terrifying), TrustoCorp, Posterchild, Jeff Soto, Gaia, Jice, F5, Smells, Cash4… the list is a ‘who’s who’ of the art world.

    There’s no words that can really do this space justice, so instead here’s a batch of photos:

    http://tagbomb2.ltvsquad.com/DisplayPage/ID/24/Sec/Gallery/

    Vandalog really catches the emotion that must go through one’s mind if you were to accidentally stumble across this place.

  • Bringing the 80s art back

    Bringing the 80s art back

    Anyone who has been lost in the last few weeks around the southern reaches of the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn could be excused for experiencing a powerful Koch administration flashback. On the wall of a brick warehouse there, visible from the parking lot of a furniture store, a huge mural unfurls itself, a loving, seemingly spray-by-spray re-creation of one of the more infamous pieces of graffiti ever to ride the subway: a 1980 work by the artist known as Seen that covered the length of a No. 6 train car with the ominous phrase “Hand of Doom.”

    Most interesting project. Too bad they can’t do up an old work train full of redbirds or something…

  • Bushwick Terminal 2010

    Bushwick Terminal 2010

    Photos from a summer day poking around the olde Bushwick Terminal and WM yard areas – a hotbed for NYC Graffiti.