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 GarrettSinboy. Photo by RJSurge, The Flower Guy, Stormie, Indigo and somebody I don't know. Photo by RJPhoto by GarrettPhoto by GarrettGaia. Photo by PACMark Jenkins and Con. Photo by WorkhorsePaper Twins and 1010. Photo by PACM-City. Photo by WorkhorseLister. Photo by RJJeff Soto. Photo by RJRoa, 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.
I’ve always considered myself to be a bit of Pyromaniac. Fire is element that has always managed to catch my attention. Whether it be in photography or film, I’ve always been fascinated with it. But don’t worry, I can assure you that I don’t have a long history of burning down houses or setting myself alight behind me. French artist and fellow Pyromaniac Olivier Kosta-Théfaine on the other hand has been throwing caution to the wind lately; attacking walls and ceilings with lighters in order to create a number of burning phrases and patterns into ceilings (see the video above). But what on earth is it all for?
On his website it explains
“In each of his interventions, Olivier Kosta-Théfaine plays with the codes and clichés of popular culture. He uses the languages and codes of the city and its suburbs, changing or modifying their original meaning so it can be understood by a broader public. His reflection is essentially based in rehabilitating the, often deconsidered, elements that belong to the city. His fascination for the suburbs has switched to a passion that is essential to his everyday work. The city is his muse, the drive for his artistic inspiration.”
Yeah, I didn’t really get much out that either! But what the hell, it looks pretty cool!
When Roa sent me some photos of his recent work in Moscow, he mentioned that he’d arrived in LA. LA? What was he doing in LA. Then I remembered that his upcoming show with Thinkspace is almost here. I was thinking it was still months away, but no. The show is less than two weeks away.
The show opens November 13th and is going to be at a special pop-up location in LA (2808 Elm Street, Los Angeles, CA). Let’s hope that Roa has time to paint a few walls around LA in addition to whatever he’s up to for this solo show.
This summer, I sat in a massive pitch-black room and muttered “Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit…” over and over again. I couldn’t stop repeating “Holy shit” for maybe for five minutes. I’d been anticipating this moment for nearly a year. I was somewhere underneath New York City. I was waiting to be shown The Underbelly Project. Technically, I was there to take photos, but really I didn’t care at all if images came out or not. Really, I just wanted to see firsthand what was going on 4-stories below the streets of New York City.
Revok and Ceaze. That light comes from the lights that were set up temporarily for an artist who was painting that night.
Imagine Cans Festival, FAME Festival or Primary Flight: Some of street art and graffiti’s best artists all painting one spot. That’s kind of like The Underbelly Project. Except that The Underbelly Project took place in complete secrecy, in a mysterious location and without any authorization. Over the past year, The Underbelly Project has brought more than 100 artists to an abandoned and half-finished New York City subway station. Each artist was given one night to paint something.
Know Hope had this entire room to himself. What was this room meant to be? An elevator shaft? An office? I have no idea.
Workhorse and PAC, the project’s organizers, have put countless hours into their ghost subway station, and now they’re finally ready to unveil it to the world, sort of (more on that later). So I guess that’s why I was in that dark room, sitting in silence, waiting for them to give me a flashlight. I’m still not sure why I’d been extended the invitation to see the station firsthand, but I couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity. The Underbelly Project is going to be part of street art history.
Surge, Stormie Mills, Remi/Rough and Gaia
Eventually, Workhorse and PAC came over to where I was sitting and lent me a flashlight. I stood up, already coated in dust and probably dirtier than I’ve ever been, and got a full tour of the station. I’m not somebody who is good at estimating the size of a space, but The Underbelly Project took place in a space that was meant to be a subway station, so I guess it was the size of a subway station with a few tracks. The station is like a concrete cavern: random holes who-knows how deep into the ground, dust thick like a layer of dirt, leaky ceilings and hidden rooms. Except the whole station is covered in art. Think of FAME Festival’s abandoned monastery transplanted to beneath New York City. I’m not an urban explorer, so I had no idea that there are abandoned subway stations throughout New York, but The Underbelly Project seems like just about the best possible use of one.
Of course, having been down there myself, I’m going to be prone to hyperbole. Even at it’s simplest, even if The Underbelly Project is “just another mural project,” it’s a story that the artists can tell for years, and it may even be evidence that street art isn’t so far gone and corporate as some people have suggested.
Swoon and Imminent Disaster. Disaster's piece is stunning beyond belief and fits the space so perfectly.
The list of artists who painted for The Underbelly Project goes on and on, but here are just a few:
Swoon
Gaia
Know Hope
Revok
Roa
Dan Witz
Jeff Soto
Faile
Mark Jenkins
Elbow-toe
TrustoCorp
Mark Jenkins and Con. This is at the end of a long and dark tunnel that, at the time, was not otherwise painted.
On my visit, The Underbelly Project wasn’t finished. In fact, somebody was painting there that night. Nonetheless, the space was already substantially painted and postered. I spent that night wandering around the tunnels, taking photos and getting lost (and also scared – Damn you Mark Jenkins! You can’t put a sculpture like that at the end of a darkened hall. I thought it was a person!).
TrustoCorp
And what now? The walls have all been painted and the artists have moved on to new projects. When the last artist finished painting the last wall, Workhorse and PAC made access to The Underbelly Project nearly impossible by removing the entrance. Even if any of us wanted to go back (and I do), even if we could remember how to get there (and I don’t), we can’t. Nobody can. For now, The Underbelly Project has become a time capsule of street art, somewhere in the depths of New York City.
Meggs
Brad Downey once explained to me why he thought Damien Hirst’s diamond skull is interesting. It had something to do with what people would think of the skull in 1000 years, when its original meaning has been lost to time. That’s when the skull is going to become a true icon and object with immense power. In some ways, The Underbelly Project is like Hirst’s skull, without the price tag. One day, decades from now hopefully, somebody may rediscover that old subway station and have no idea what they’re looking at. Hopefully, they’ll just feel that it’s something incredibly special.
Dan Witz. This was the first time I'd seen his street art in person. It's the perfect setting for Dan's Dark Doings series.
Here are some more images from The Underbelly Project, and expect more over the coming days on Vandalog and around the blogosphere… Or you can pay £1 to read an in-depth article about it in today’s Sunday Times.
Stash (well, part of his piece). This is another room like Know Hope's area.Swoon and ListerL'Atlas, Mr Di Maggio, 1010, Paper Twins, Bigfoot, Control/Jice. Photo by WorkhorseFaile. Photo by PACSkewville, PAC, SheOne, Revok/Ceaze. Photo by PAC
Spiffy Films presents this short trailer for Dan Witz’sStreet Art Project for 2010: WHAT THE %$#@? (WTF)
If you’re not familiar with Dan’s work or have a taste for street art that’s a little more provocative definitely check this video out! Dan latest work focuses around a number of very surreal and realistic panels, placed in and around urban locations; depicting various characters looking out from behind iron bars, cages and window panes. Whether they are trapped, being held against their will or simply there for their own enjoyment remains to be seen, but this is certainly something that will have you thinking – “WTF?”.
I’m a HUGE fan of Jeff Soto and having already had the opportunity to interview him a long time ago, I can safely say I’m a fan for life. There was also that one time when I stood next to him at the opening of his debut UK solo exhibition and didn’t have the balls to say hello, but let’s not talk about that! Instead lets talk about Maxx242 vs. Jeff Soto; a new collaborative project between the two artists and longtime friends which will focus on releasing limited edition items such as toys, skate decks, apparel and prints. The project also includes two limited edition decks made for REAL Skateboards (seen above), both made in limited quantities. The boards (which will have a special coinciding Bearbrick Toy for special release at Unit in Tokyo, Japan) were both made at a quantity of 200, with 50 of each going straight to Japan, so only 150 will be available in the US!
Maxx242and Soto have worked together on various projects over the past 20 years and have always pushed each other to progress as artists and more importantly, they share a deep respect for one another. Now they are joining forces again to make some cool shit for the world!
Two of my favorite artists of all time Alex Pardee andGreg “Craola” Simkins recently teamed up to create this special Halloween print appropriately entitled “The Orange Lantern”. I can’t think of a cooler collaboration and the concept fits both of these guys perfectly!
The print is now available as an ultra limited giclee print fromZerofriends. Each print is hand signed and numbered and also comes packaged with a FREE additional 10″ x 8″ print displaying the story of The Orange Lantern which you can read in full on Alex’s Juxtapoz Blog.
As you may have seen mentioned on my Twitter, I’ve been working with a few artists that I admire to make a series of t-shirts.
Today, the first three in a line of Vandalog t-shirts are available online. All three are designs are artworks by people that I admire. These aren’t your standard artist collaborations though. There are a few things that make these shirts unique. Yes, Vandalog now has a clothing label, but nowhere on these t-shirts will you find the Vandalog name. This project was conceived as being about the artists as much as possible. Additionally, these aren’t the sort of thing that you’ll find 40 of in every Urban Outfitters throughout the world. There are less than shirts 40 with each design in the world. That was intentional. These t-shirts are screenprints, except that they were printed on fabric instead of paper and they aren’t signed by the artists. Luckily, all these shirts are significantly cheaper than screenprints on paper, at $30 each plus shipping.
Faro’s shirt is an edition of 34. Faro is a mummy-obsessed artist and graffiti writer who you may have seen around New York City. His graffiti is cool and it’s how we at Vandalog first heard about Faro, but his drawings are what really sets him apart, which is why Faro’s shirt is based on this drawing.
Other
Troy Lovegates aka Other’s shirt is an edition of 35. Troy Lovegates is a Canadian artist who likes to draw outside, often with his friend Labrona, as well as make beautiful prints and paintings indoors. I’d say Troy is probably my favorite Canadian street artist. Also, he recently had a cool book of his art published.
All these shirts are available now at Vandalog’s online shop for $30 each plus shipping.
I’m racing through my computer science homework right now and also throwing this post together before it gets to be too late. I have to be up early tomorrow to get to Washington D.C. for The Daily Show’s Rally To Restore Sanity. I probably shouldn’t been spending my entire day on my way to and from that rally, but it’s going to be an insane day. So between planning getting 50 students to the rally and teaching a course on street art at my university (not an official course, there’s no homework or exams and I don’t get paid), things had to slip through my fingers this week:
There’s a film about Steve Powers’ A Love Letter For You Project, and it just premiered in Philadelphia. Also, Steve has a new website with some work available to purchase and plenty of photos.
The next show at Black Rat Projects is a group show with some of my favorite artists. Small Acts of Resistance opens on November 4th and includes Know Hope, Armsrock, Matt Small, Dotmasters, Swoon and Peter Kennard. It’s awesome to see Armsrock back at Black Rat Press and Know Hope showing there for the first time. Admittedly, Dotmasters may seem a bit out of place at first, but he did recently paint that wall at Nuart that everyone loved. As for how Swoon will be involved in this show, she will be doing a large installation, presumably similar to her show on now in Paris.
