NYC officials will leave Underbelly Project (relatively) intact

The NYTimes recently had another article updating people on the aftermath of The Underbelly Project. Apparently, the NYC government doesn’t intend to paint over the work:

While the police are taking a hard line on keeping people away — “This is not an art gallery; this is completely illegal,” one officer said — the paintings in what the artists called the Underbelly Project are likely to live on. Subway officials said they had no plans to paint over the artwork, even if they sincerely hoped nobody ever got to see it again.

“We have no intention of disturbing the works,” said Deirdre Parker, a spokeswoman for New York City Transit.

Ms. Parker noted that the fiscally challenged transit agency would not want to devote resources to restoring a space almost entirely unseen by the riding public. “It’s in complete darkness and not really at all visible to anyone,” she said.

Of course, graffiti writers have already tagged over a good deal of the station…

Photo by RJ Rushmore