More from The Underbelly Project

November 2nd, 2010 | By | 6 Comments »

Beautiful night. Photo by Workhorse

One of my roommates came by a few minutes ago and asked “So, did shit hit the fan?” He knew I was posting something about Underbelly yesterday, but he’s not really the artsy type so he didn’t know quite what it was.

Well indeed shit has hit the fan, but mostly in a good way so far. The Underbelly Project made it into The New York Times and The Age. Also, Ian Cox and Luna Park have posted their photos on their respective blogs. And their photos are much better than mine, so check them out.

It seems most people are liking the project, even if some have some reservations. As one commenter on my last post pointed out, maybe you had to be there to experience some of the awesomeness, but it’s still pretty cool. I think that’s a fair assessment. Some artists’ work is best viewed in person, and the best artworks in The Underbelly Project tend to fall into that category. Posterchild put up an interactive sculpture, and Dan Witz’ art is definitely more powerful when it comes as a surprise and in person.

But there’s been one criticism that I absolutely don’t buy: That The Underbelly Project was conceived and executed purely for commercial gain. Yeah, later this week I’ll be posting a trailer to a documentary about the project, but the organizers, who I think are two very bright people, would have to be complete idiots to do this project if their only interest was a sick book deal. Yeah, there are street artists and graffiti writers out there who do illegal work to get attention and doing well-promoted street art can sell a painting or two. I’ve called out people on doing things like that before. That said, the scale and risk of The Underbelly Project is greater than what could be often by any likely monetary rewards. It would be much easier and less risky to either fake the entire project in a warehouse somewhere or just do something that relies on one or two big events instead of a year of secrecy and dangerous activities. I highly doubt that The Underbelly Project will be an efficient way to make money for the participants, even with any future books or films or anything like that. When I was first told about The Underbelly Project, it was little more than an idea, and the idea was to create a secret street art and graffiti Mecca, not to make a million bucks.

Here are some more photos from down in the tunnel:

Lister. Photo by Garrett

Sinboy. Photo by RJ

Surge, The Flower Guy, Stormie, Indigo and somebody I don't know. Photo by RJ

Photo by Garrett

Photo by Garrett

Gaia. Photo by PAC

Mark Jenkins and Con. Photo by Workhorse

Paper Twins and 1010. Photo by PAC

M-City. Photo by Workhorse

Lister. Photo by RJ

Jeff Soto. Photo by RJ

Roa, Revok and Ceaze. Photo by RJ

I’ll continue this week to post more photos, but you can check out a more full set of my images on flickr.

Photos courtesy of The Underbelly Project (by Workhorse, PAC and Garrett) and by RJ

Related posts:

  1. Underbelly resurfaces: The Underbelly Show
  2. Preview of The Underbelly Show (and NEW LOCATION)
  3. Secret Wars at Underbelly Miami
  4. More from Ad Hoc Art’s Welling Court Mural Project
  5. The Boneyard Project

Category: Festivals, Photos | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
  • http://Website Dave the Chimp

    better photos this time, looks more impressive

    the guys that organised it probably did it for fun, and because they could. that’s pretty much the only reason for doing any art project.
    and sometimes, during a project, you realise “Damn, there’s a book or movie here” so why the hell not. I don’t think they’ll get rich off of a book about this project. Making a book can pay ok, but you have to sell shit loads to even come close to earning as much as you would in a regular job. people that are bitching about the guys making money are just jealous they didn’t get invited, or didn’t come up with the idea ;-)

    two things though: it couldn’t be faked in a warehouse, as all the artists would know it was fake, which would be putting their good names at risk, so I think that’s a stoopid comment

    and it’s hardly a mecca for street art if it will be sealed and no one can visit it. a “mecca” has come to mean a place where thousands flock to. they can’t flock to somewhere in an undisclosed location!

    really, sometimes you have to read what you write to see if it makes sense before posting it!

  • http://blog.vandalog.com RJ

    Yeah. I’m certainly not a photographer. Most of the last post were my photos and these are more from The Underbelly Project crew.

    I think you’re spot on here Dave. They’ve have to make the next Subway Art for a book to pay off better than a day job.

    Okay probably true about the warehouse idea. But my point is that they could have done something similar in a less risky way. Cans Festival still got a lot of press even though it was legal.

    But people are flocking to it. The artists were flocking to it before the project was done, and the secrecy and ritual involved is not unlike a religious pilgrimage. Plus it’s in a NY subway station, which is as close as many of these artists might ever get to painting at NY subway car. So for the artists, I think the Mecca comment is valid. And now, people have figured out the location of this post and visited. It’s already been wrecked up a bit, but it’s there and it’s become clear that the space can be visited if you want to risk your freedom and safety. So again, the Mecca comparison is valid.

  • http://www.themagiclantern.blogspot.com Em

    Any comments that this was about money and fame are silly. Even if true, if you grew up in New York and in the Subways, you’d know that this place is far danker, dirtier, and more dangerous than you could likely imagine. In addition, an arrest is easily possible. So what would many of these established artists get out of doing this?

    No, the real answer is far better: This consolidates the real spirit and core of this kind of art. Urban art was never anti-establishment per se, it was non-establishment, and these folks risked a lot to go be true to that, and to participate in something that really emanates from that spirit.

    It bodes well, I think, for the future of this movement. We’ll be seeing a lot of very interesting art emerge from this scene for a long time.

  • http://new-savanna.blogspot.com/ Bill Benzon

    “non-establishment” — I like that. I agree with you all that it’s extremely unlikely that this is a stunt to score on a book deal. That’s an awful lot of downside risk for a very iffy upside potential. I’ve published two books, and it’s no way to make money.

    It’s going to be very interesting to see how this plays out.

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