HOW DID FIVE INCH MONSTERS BEGIN? DO YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST #SUBWAYMOUTHS YOU PHOTOGRAPHED? It began the moment I moved to NYC. It was the first thing I noticed going down the stairs to the subway station. The #SUBWAYMOUTHS were impossible not to notice. Larger than life, right at the height of your face. Purposely designed to hit that stop of attention, whether you wanted it or not.
FIM took a little longer to collect. Every day observing, analysing my surroundings, everything was new and needed something to make sense of it. FIM had a few transformations from products (toys) to silkscreen fashion ideas – to become the artistic daily practice of documenting “the everything” around me.
WHAT DO THESE DRAWN MOUTHS, OFTEN ANGRY, GROTESQUE OR PLAYFUL, SAY ABOUT THE ATTITUDES OF NEW YORK? This is something that I am constantly aware of but I don’t think it has a final answer; the #SUBWAYMOUTHS are always ever-changing. They do show a snapshot of the time we live in, often political and highly socially conscious. I would describe them as never-ending New York attitudes, Nueva Yorks has too many personalities to pigeonhole it into one.
THE PROJECT IS ALMOST LIKE A VISUAL DIARY OF THE CITY’S COLLECTIVE SUBCONSCIOUS. WOULD YOU AGREE? It is and documenting it has always been its intention. I was and still am mesmerized by what it communicates in silence, in your face, with their unapologetic truths. And seeing them all together for the first time printed at the CHOLITA cafe show in June 2025 gave them the collective freedom that allowed the connection with UNCLE. They now peek out of their long-term-residency with Instagram.
WHAT THEMES OR PATTERNS HAVE EMERGED OVER TIME IN THE MOUTHS THAT PEOPLE DRAW? CAN YOU DRAW PARALLELS WITH THE ‘MONSTERS’ AND WHAT IS HAPPENING AROUND THE WORLD? Patterns are everywhere and #SUBWAYMOUTHS are not an exception. The black tooth, dick on mouth, ripped-torn-scratched-destroyed-bullied-empty surfaces… It all sounds familiar and to me, it resembles and describes the social problems of major metropolitan cities.
DO YOU SEE THIS AS AN ART MOVEMENT, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, OR BOTH? FIM is my personal artistic daily practice. But I am sure as the posts in the subway disappear, these may one day be studied, and their messages will be louder and amplified. Years ago, a friend of a friend of mine, a teacher, gave a class at an NYC university and used FIM as a reference of continuity and longstanding urban documentation and art practice.
WHAT HAS IT BEEN LIKE TO WITNESS THE PROJECT’S EVOLUTION ACROSS SO MANY YEARS? WHAT HAS IT TAUGHT YOU ABOUT NEW YORK, OR ABOUT PEOPLE IN GENERAL? People throughout history like leaving their mark and people get bored quickly. As for FIM, there is an expiration date, the boards are being removed as I write this and their day as #SUBWAYMOUTHS are numbered. I probably need to look UP again.
WHY DO YOU THINK THE SUBWAY, AND NOT THE STREET, IS SUCH FERTILE GROUND FOR THIS KIND OF ARTISTIC EXPRESSION? This happens everywhere, I just happened to narrow it down to the subway as a documenting subject, as their size and form were more standard and the encounters were inevitable. Capturing this on the street is more about timing. And as you guys know well, this is the bread and butter for wildposting in NYC.
THIS WHOLE PROJECT SEEMS QUITE POETIC. FROM TRADITIONAL ADVERTISEMENTS IN THE SUBWAY, TO NOW BEING FLYPOSTED ABOVE GROUND THROUGHOUT NEW YORK. IS THIS WHAT YOU ENVISIONED OF THE PROJECT WHEN YOU STARTED DOCUMENTING IT BACK IN 2013? In all honesty, this is just magical and has allowed me and the #SUBWAYMOUTHS permission to dream bigger. So, I see this just as the beginning.
VIDA ETERNA A LAS SUBWAYMOUTHS! And many more reinventions for FIVEINCHMONSTERS GRACIAS TOTALES.
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