100 flexible custom magnets attached to the 4, 5 & 6 trains in NYC.

Under the Guiliani administration the city was tense as the police were directed to crack down on what was termed quality of life crimes (i.e. specifically targeting the poor & the homeless, and non-white city residents in general). In an attempt to counteract the blunt callousness of this policy, I staged the KY500, a fictitious race that took place on the exterior panels of the remaining metal subway trains (4,5,6,7). The designs were stock cars tricked out with sponsorship decals offering encouragements of HUMILITY and LUBRICATION.

I adhered my paper images to industrial size sheets of 4mm sticky-back magnet material and cut out the shapes with household scissors. The characters in the race were primarily characters from various projects I was working on at the time: Friggin Mags, Vinnie’s TC’s, my NY Knicks Watercolor Project, and my mother (she was a piece of work). For a lube-oriented race, I felt obligated to include a Matthew Barney car, sponsored by RECTASOL (natch). Depicting elements of lubrication (KY Jelly, sticks of butter, bomb pop- ice) in my artworks was an attempt to provide a greased slide point of entry (reference) so the viewer could better slip past the visual tricks and get into the less obvious or more challenging elements.

I usually just threw up a few magnets whenever I took the metal trains. I’d bring a few in my bag for the trip out and the trip back.  My applying the magnets to the sides of the train was never performative. Even though I prefer’d rush-hour crowds (larger audience, better cover), the busy train platforms are monitored by camera- so I knew to not linger too long admiring my work.The best way to gauge reaction was to apply the magnet near the train’s doors and get on. When the train would pull up at the next station the people waiting to board the train would get the best view of the KY500 in action. Most riders thought the magnets were stickers and/or images sanctioned by the MTA. Some young bucks would investigate and take the mag off as a souvenir. The face mask I’m wearing in the photos is the dead giveaway that this was pre 911– not that subway security wasn’t tight in the ’90s, but had I attempted this after the fact, I would’a likely been beaten within an inch of my life with day old churros by the other passengers on the platforms. Pre 911, NY’ers didn’t give my balaclava wearing, magnet adhering shenanigans a sidelong glance. I was never detained but a French film crew documenting my process got to spend a few hours in an official MTA underground holding cell. I warned them in advance that their sizable camera team was going to attract attention on the narrow platforms at the 14th Street 4/5/6 and that if they dallied too long and got arrested they were to pretend they didn’t know me– and that’s exactly what happened. Undercovers swooped in right after I put a KY500 Preg Teen® magnet on a Downtown 6, but they brushed right past me and grabbed the entire French film crew. The crew showed up back at my studio hours later, shaken but not stirred.