avphibes

One of the things that I love about New York subway advertising is that the posters are right there on the walls, unobstructed, making it ridiculously easy for people to write on them. I remember feeling disappointed when I was in San Francisco to see that the subway posters are posted inaccessably across the tracks from the commuters, robbing them of the enjoyment of the "subway advertisement dialogue."

I like to think of New York subway advertisements and their inevitable grafitti as a delightful collaboration between media and the public it wishes to woo and influence. The observer is allowed to call "bullshit" or use the media as a springboard to a statement of their own. Results range from the lowbrow (drawing penises going into every open mouth) to the highbrow (scathing indictments of consumerism or sexism). Results are sometimes thought-provoking, sometimes hilarious.

I can't say that in my reckless youth I was never alone in a subway station drunk with a sharpie pen and let one thing lead to another. My personal style was generally more silly. Putting word bubbles with nonsensical catch-phrases, or adding satiric labels with arrows, pop-up-video style. I even once had the rare joy of having someone quote one of my own subway graffiti's back to me, not knowing that it was mine. All that was a long time ago, but I still like to stop and read what people write on posters.

Yesterday, however, I saw some graffiti that surprised me because it was a "genre" I don't think I've really seen before. There was a poster advertising new waterfront high-rise condos with extensive writing on it, which I stopped to read, assuming it would be a cynical tirade about gentrification and class. Much to my surprise, this is what it said:



"Having a 2-bedroom apt in Brooklyn right by the water with an amazing view is the best! The question is how to you get a 2-bedroom apt in Brooklyn right by the water with an amazing view?? Answer: Just make it happen!!!"

Then there was an arrow pointing to the building saying "You R here!"



The thing that made it surprising was that one rarely sees subway graffiti that is so, well, positive. A statement that is, in fact, almost giddily upbeat. I looked at the adjacent ad for Dunkin Donuts flatbread sandwiches and the same person had written on it:

"Life is 2 short. If you want to eat a egg flatbread sandwich EAT IT!!! Just eat 1 every so often-N-your life will be smooth!!"

I thought: "Who are you, deliriously happy subway vandal?" And walked away amused and cheered.