With the sudden explosion of users on Instagram, I’ve decided to start a new feature called “This Week in Instagram”. The idea is to spotlight some of the awesome subway art getting posted there. If you dabble with the ‘gram, take this opportunity to discover/follow some super cool artists and photographers!
@avisu
@jillyballistic
@whutevur
@jowy
Many more after the jump! more »
Check out Ambika’s blog.
Reginald Marsh, Why Not Use the “L”?, 1930
The folks over at F.A.T. have developed a new tool in the fight against irksome, uninteresting subway advertisements. Meet Sub Pixel, a custom slicing tool made from laser-cut acrylic, rubber bands and nine razor blades.
From fffff.at:
In two quick swipes, it transforms a small patch of subway advertisement from a “one-way, unending flow of shit” into an 8×8 grid of pixel stickers, ready for two-way interaction with the public.
Keep an eye out for ads with a single pixel removed to indicate that it’s been ‘prepared’ by a Sub Pixel!
F.A.T. or Free Art & Technology is a group “dedicated to enriching the public domain through the research and development of creative technologies”. Many of their posts include D.I.Y. instructions and Sub Pixel is no exception; you can download the files required for laser cutting your own right on the site.
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
Meet “The Bride,” a new collaboration by artist duo Enzo & Nio and subway artist Jilly Ballistic. According to Jilly’s flickr, the gun-toting newlywed lives in the Church Ave-bound G train platform at Nassau Ave.
John Sloan, Reading in the Subway, 1926
Her feet beneath her petticoat
Like little mice peeped in and out,
As if they feared the light.
This beautiful, eerie video is making its way around the NYC blogosphere today. Freelance filmmaker Tim Sessler sways and swerves his camera through the subway, floating the viewer through space like a ghost. The ambient sounds of the subway are familiar, yet dream-like, magnifying the haunting quality of this video. Also, since when is the subway lit so beautifully? Bravo Mr. Sessler, you are a magician!
Gothamist – A Beautifully Creepy Video Of The NYC Subway System
