Sketching people on the subway shouldn’t be a foreign idea to readers of Subway Art Blog. Artist and psychiatrist Peter Bulow takes this concept to the next level. Dr. Bulow makes clay sculptures based on people he sees on his commute.

In an interview with NY1, he describes his experiences sculpting on the subway:

It’s thrilling. I feel like I’m connecting with people somehow, but also really calm within myself,” says Bulow. “It takes a lot of concentration. You have to get their expression, it has to be beautiful, it has to look like them. It has to be three-dimensional all the way around, has to be a composition. You have to do all that in a minute or five minutes or whatever you have. It’s like riding a roller coaster. You have something forever, of a person you once saw.

To date, Dr. Bulow has created over 400 of these mini portraits. A small selection of these works are being shown at Fort Tryon Park in Manhattan through June 30th.

Images via JavierSoriano.com

Writing this blog has turned me into an avid follower of graffiti and street art culture here in NYC. I enjoy checking out new work and meeting artists, so I try and make it to as many exhibitions and other events as I can. It’s not as easy as it sounds, though. As hard as I try to find out about them, I find myself missing things only because I never heard about them. There is no unified source of info about street art and graffiti events on the web. This is why I decided to create Graff Cal.

Graff Cal is a super simple website with a calendar of graffiti and street art-related event listings. It’s mission is to compile all of these into one place and we’ve teamed up with Fresh Paint NYC to make it happen.

The site is still a work in progress, so look for big updates soon. See you at an opening!

nyc.graffcal.com

Today I’m experimenting with a new feature i’m calling Black Book. For each entry in this series, I’ll show another page in my own book of graffiti signatures and talk a little about the artist. For the first, I’d like to talk about NYC graffiti writer OPTIMO aka WERDS aka NO SLEEP.

OPTIMO’s distinctive top hat character can be found on walls all throughout NYC. I caught up with him during Art Basel week festivities in Miami, where he hit the Wynwood walls hard. He’s also made with a name for himself with several shows in the New York area at venues like Revolution Studios, Brooklyn Fireproof and Culture Fix. OPTIMO’s latest show opens tomorrow, February 15th at Diva in SOHO. Check out this flier for the details!

More work after the jump!

One of OPTIMO’s many new pieces in Miami.

A  subway map piece called “METRO BOUND”

One of OPTIMO’s canvas pieces posing for a photo in the Spring Street station.

Check out OPTIMO’s flickr for more!

This week is your last chance to check out Home for the Holidays, the inaugural exhibition of downtown’s Klughaus Gallery. With a focus on graffiti and identity, the group show features some well-established writers like FAUST and KATSU. Check out the official site for the full roster and visiting info. The show closes on the 31st, so don’t wait!

All photos by Subway Art Blog except the above by Making Deals Zine. Sadly this was sold and removed from the show the night of the opening.

I caught this piece at Fountain Miami referencing the MTA’s infamous fear campaign. I didn’t catch the artist’s name. Please leave a comment if you know!

In case you couldn’t make it out to Miami, here is a walkthrough of the entire Underbelly show!

NYC graffiti king COPE2 also showed paintings during Art Basel in Miami at his solo show called “Rise to the Occasion.” In many ways his work was similar to UR New York’s—a mix of collage, painting and tagging. COPE also references the subway in his work with subway cars and wet paint signs.

Check out COPE’s site for more!

While roaming the streets of Wynwood in Miami, I found some fun subway art in a very unlikely place: an ice cream truck. One gallery took the less expensive route by selling art out of the back of this vehicle (seen below).

John Gagliano is the artist behind this very epic painting called “Sold My Soul for a G Train.” If only waiting for the G were actually this interesting.

It appears as though some awesome person brought NYC subway wet paint signs to Miami to create some fun anagrams. The number of New Yorkers and New York inspired art here is uncanny!

I found this awesome video piece by Leandro Erlich on the showroom floor at Art Basel. The video is a loop of views outside subway car windows from all over the world. Each clip is stitched together to look like one seamless trip. Even cooler is that the LCD TV is made to look like the window of a subway car, completing the experience.

Check out Leandro’s official site.