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@thesubwaytoday
PAUL VANDECARR: In this, the final collage in the series, I cut up and reassembled George Tooker’s original 1950 painting into a nightmarish vision or version. I created this all on paper, without any digital editing. Like the one in Tooker’s painting, this subway station has no exits, but it does have hands and eyes reaching up and looking from beneath the surface of things.
PAUL VANDECARR: In this collage, friends old and new -- including actors from Theatre of the Oppressed NYC -- play the roles of the people in the painting. While all the people in Tooker’s painting were white, the people in this collage reflect more of New York City’s diversity. See photos elsewhere on this Tumblr with statements from each of the people here about the state of the country when these photos were taken.
PAUL VANDECARR: In this collage, figures from famous paintings and collages take the places of the people in George Tooker’s original 1950 painting, “The Subway.” In front, for example notice Frida Kahlo, a figure from a Romare Bearden collage, a horrified figure from Picasso’s Guernica, and, just to the viewer’s left of Frida, Saint Francis from Bellini’s painting at the Frick Collection.
PAUL VANDECARR: In this collage, the second of several for this project, I played each of the characters depicted in the original painting. In playing these characters and adopting each of their expressions and postures, I came to feel oppressed, anxious, and confined myself. George Tooker finished his painting in 1950, and, like in his other works, he addressed urban anxieties and alienation. I couldn’t help but think about how this work was completed the year after the Soviet Union had tested its first atomic bomb, and how the arms race was then underway -- subway stations would be used as bomb shelters.
Many thanks to Steve Shohl for doing such an excellent job rendering the station, taking the photos, and creating the collage.
PAUL VANDECARR: In this collage, the first of several for this project, I adopted expressions of anger, despair, sorrow, disgust, incredulity, and other of my responses to the Trump administration and the people who support it. It was taxing to embody all these difficult emotions one right after the other, and a reminder of just how much the political climate – beyond whatever policies are passed – can have a physical effect.
Many thanks to Steve Shohl for doing such an excellent job rendering the station, taking the photos, and creating the collage.
At the Whitney Museum, April 22, 2018. Photo credit: TheSubwayToday.tumblr.com. Project by Paul VanDeCarr, www.paulvdc.com. These photos by Steve Shohl. Actors are Cat (red dress), Jon (dark hat), Paul (light hat), Noah (no hat).
The painting is "The Subway,” by George Tooker (1950). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Purchase, with funds from the Juliana Force Purchase Award. http://collection.whitney.org/object/3052.
At the Whitney Museum, April 22, 2018. Photo credit: TheSubwayToday.tumblr.com. Project by Paul VanDeCarr, www.paulvdc.com. Actors left to right are Jon, Cat, Paul, and Noah,
The painting is "The Subway,” by George Tooker (1950). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Purchase, with funds from the Juliana Force Purchase Award. http://collection.whitney.org/object/3052.
“Subway woman” escapes from George Tooker’s painting at the Whitney Museum, and is not quite sure what to make of modern-day NYC.
Figure is from "The Subway,” by George Tooker (1950). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Purchase, with funds from the Juliana Force Purchase Award. http://collection.whitney.org/object/3052
PAUL VANDECARR: In this collage, the first of several for this project, I adopted expressions of anger, despair, sorrow, disgust, incredulity, and other of my responses to the Trump administration and the people who support it. It was taxing to embody all these difficult emotions one right after the other, and a reminder of just how much the political climate -- beyond whatever policies are passed -- can have a physical effect.
Many thanks to Steve Shohl for doing such an excellent job rendering the station, taking the photos, and creating the collage.
HANA: The United States was founded by immigrants and people fleeing religious persecution, and has long preached religious tolerance. Now is a worrisome time for anyone concerned about such tolerance. With everything that’s going on, it’s enough to drive your crazy.
CARLA: As a Mexican-American, I go back and forth freely between the two countries. But most of my fellow Latin American citizens do not have the same freedom. Some have died in an attempt to find hope across the border. Mexico and the U.S. have exchanged people and goods and culture and more for centuries, sometimes through peaceful means, and sometimes in conflict. The idea of building an ‘impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful’ wall will only lead to conflict. Yes, there’s a need for effective laws on immigration, but the wall would be harmful for both countries, affecting their populations, trade, economies, tourism, and even the natural environment.
KAYHAN: After a rally I was on the subway and an elderly White woman came into the car and stood in front of me. She stared down, hard, at my chest. I realized I was wearing a 'Love Trumps Hate' button and I felt my heartbeat speed up. Was I going to get told off by an old lady on the subway? Was I going to tell off an old lady on the subway? She looked back up at me, her brow furrowed, and gave me a big smile and thumbs up. I almost started crying. Has it really come to this? Am I guilty of it too?
Left to right are Nia, Charlie, Lacey, Noah, and Amanda. (And unknown passerby in back right.)
LACEY: Due to the current political climate, many are experiencing extreme anxiety since it is apparent that oppression is still real. Many communities are under attack. I pray that we can continue to have undaunted strength in such adversity.
NOAH: I’m grateful that more people are paying attention to issues that so many of us have been working on for so long. But ‘resist’ assumes someone else holds the power, blames instead of takes responsibility. I’m keeping focused on creating the kind of world I want to live in. This requires acting out of compassion and love, not anger and fear. Vilifying political opponents won’t liberate us. Loving them will.
Left to right are Nia, Charlie, Lacey, Noah, and Amanda.
CHARLIE: I was shocked to find out how few people value basic decency. I thought we lived in a nicer world than we apparently do. I’ve spent a long time trying to convince everyone that the coded things politicians say have dire implications for many folks. It got much harder to look certain friends and relatives in the eye one I realized their conclusions didn’t change even when the truth was laid out plainly in front of them.
AMANDA: What concerns me most is that we have an Executive branch that cannot see the value in protecting our Earth, and has the audacity to think that facts are something that they can choose whether to believe in. I fear that while I may be able to outlast Trump, our climate won’t be able to handle the actions taken now
NIA: When the election results first came in, I thought, I’m in a doomed timeline. I expected these bigots to come for my education, my health, and my safety, and I’m prepared to fight for my rights. That’s the way the game of systematic oppression has always been played here. But while I’m grateful for their gross incompetence, their idiocy gets insulting. How is this real life?
Left to right, Marcus, Jon, Maaji, Bill.
Left to right, Devyn, Charlie, Jon, Maaji (in red), Bill, Letitia, and Marcus.
DEVYN (far left, behind post with York Street sign): As a young queer person of color, there’s a deepened sense of anxiety, of shame, of sadness -- knowing that to so many, we are unwanted here, knowing that at any moment, any basic human rights can be snatched from us. We are in an environment of state-sanctioned hate, and that is terrifying. But there is strength in numbers, strength in bodies, in arms outstretched. We’re in this together and we are in this for the long haul.
LETITIA (second from right, in background): I’ve never seen such a disorganized government in my life. Trump has both parties in an uproar over issues that affect us all. Medicare, borders, jobs, and having connections to Russia. We are in for a long, hard struggle. As if we aren’t struggling already.