Underground reprieve

This is what I miss about NYC. Beautiful breaks in the madness. Creativity just waiting to be discovered all around you (usually in the most unlikely places). I remember being a kid, going to spend the weekend with my Pop on the Bowery (Lower East Side Manhattan) and riding the D train from Park Slope. Graffiti artists had tagged a certain tunnel with beautiful images that moved along with you like a motion picture. It was magical. It was a colorful story unfolding for a brief moment in time.

Walker Evans' subway series captures passengers caught in between time, turned off, no pretence, no act, no charade- taking a reprieve from the above ground world. The shots are haunting. (I'd love to do a similar project in the modern underground, unfortunately, I'd probably get sued. Walker Evans had a small camera hidden in his coat that allowed him to snap away unnoticed).


There is something raw and mysterious about the subway. The underground reprieve.

The MOMA has given the daily grind more flavor and color by filling Brooklyn’s Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Street subway station with reproductions of over 50 works of art from Picasso to Warhol. MOMA is sharing its prints but also asking people to reciprocate by posting own photos, which are displayed on MOMA's microsite)Some photos and video tour below.

The 'invitation' copy is pretty engaging:

We know you’re moving at warp speed to get from here to there, but take a breath and take a look. We hope what you see in the station changes the way you see the world today, if only for a moment. And it’s a reminder that the real MoMA is only a short ride away.