As we draw the year to a close here at ANIMAL, we’ve put together a list of our best original features of the year. Maybe you missed that ridiculous video of a cyclist speeding into traffic; maybe you haven’t been turned on to the gender-bending insanity of Uterus Man; or maybe you didn’t catch our oral history of 285 Kent, just one of many DIY staples that bit the dust this year. Check it all out below. See you in 2015, after we recover.
THERE’S A SECRET STREET ART SHOW IN AN ABANDONED EAST VILLAGE BUILDING TONIGHT
Venture into “Surplus Candy,” a one-night, street art group show in a freezing, abandoned East Village building that was curated by street artist Hanksy.
285 KENT REMEMBERED BY THE PEOPLE WHO MADE IT GREAT
Like many other music venues in Brooklyn, 285 Kent shuttered this year. ANIMAL spoke to those who had a hand in making the space as great as it was.
A topless woman in a wolf mask on Wall Street, because why the fuck not?
The greatest thing to happen to Canada and crack smokers, former Toronto mayor Rob Ford, was given a dancehall remix. This comes after another video surfaced of the politician, possibly drunk, speaking a mangled white mon version of patois.
ROSELAND BALLROOM’S LAST BOXING MATCH
Some Raging Bull-style photos of the Roseland Ballroom, a legendary Manhattan venue that shut its doors in April.
REALISTIC “YOU’RE ON (DIET) COKE” ADS
When the Coca-Cola Company rolled out its new ad campaign — which seemed to carry the tagline, “you’re on Coke” — ANIMAL made some custom parodies.
WATCH LONDON KAYE YARN-BOMB THE L TRAIN
On Valentine’s Day, artist London Kaye London yarn-bombed the L train.
CYCLE CONQUERS GRAFFITI, TACKLES THE ART WORLD
Graffiti writer and fine artist Chris “CYCLE” St. John discusses his transition from the streets to the gallery.
ANOTHER SUBWAY BOMBED: VEW AND CETE HIT THE B TRAIN
It’s not often that people get to see graffiti on the outside of a NYC subway train. Every time it happens, it’s like spotting an aerosol unicorn.
STREET ARTIST JUDITH SUPINE SHOWS HIS FACE
No longer anonymous, Judith Supine explains why he’s showing his face for the first time on video and how it’s probably not a good idea, among other things.
MEET THE TWO ARTISTS LIVING IN A GIANT HAMSTER WHEEL
At Williamsburg’s Pierogi Gallery, two artists lived in a giant hamster wheel for humans for art.
THIS ARTIST IS PLAYING ‘CIVILIZATION’ OUTSIDE OF THE WHITNEY EVERY DAY
In the name of art, Diego Leclery, played a video game called Civilization outside of the Whitney Museum for the 2014 Whitney Biennial.
GEORGE W. BUSH SOURCED ALL HIS PAINTINGS FROM GOOGLE
Former president George W. Bush is a painter, but he’s not that original. For his portraits of world leaders series, he used Google Images as his source of inspiration.
ART OF WAR: COBY KENNEDY TURNS BROOKLYN STREET SIGNS INTO POST-APOCALYPTIC WEAPONS
Artist Coby Kennedy is duly prepared for post-Apocalyptic Brooklyn and a gallery with his cache of machetes and other weapons made from NYC signs.
MEET DAN WITZ, STREET ART PIONEER
Street artist Dan Witz has been doing street art before it was called street art, in his haunting signature style. He’s a fine artist as well.
THE SPHINX AND KARA WALKER AT THE DOMINO SUGAR FACTORY: “SUGAR COMES AND GOES, CONDOS COME AND GO”
An interview with artist Kara Walker about her epic, sphinx-like sculpture in the Domino Sugar Factory.
WATCH SMART CREW CREATE ART AND THEN DESTROY IT AT SIXTY SOHO
There’s nothing better than a party where everyone is a vandal and all the art gets smashed with sledgehammers. That’s what happened at the Sixty Soho hotel with the help of the graffiti art collective Smart Crew.
GRAFFITI MURAL DEEMED TOO GRAFFITI, GETS BUFFED
A graffiti mural in SoHo was a little too graffiti for one building owner, so asked that it be buffed.
A RARE LOOK AT KEITH HARING’S ORIGINAL “CRACK IS WACK” MURAL
When legendary artist Keith Haring first painted a mural on a handball court on NYC property, the city fined him and buffed it. Once they realized who he was, they asked him to come repaint the mural — and to paint more walls.
FACEBOOK EXPERIMENT MANIPULATES EMOTIONS OF 600,000 USERS
Social media company/Big Brother Facebook conducted an emotional contagion study on more than 600,000 users without telling them.
PICTURE RIO: WHY SO MANY BRAZILIANS HATE THE WORLD CUP
A powerful photo essay reveals why the World Cup was not such a good thing for Brazil’s poor.
In summer, the graffiti community lost DG, a highly talented and respected writer who died way too young.
ANIMAL PUB(LIC) ART: GHOST X GIZ IN HELL’S KITCHEN
Graffiti experts GHOST and GIZ did one heckuva job painting the entire side of McQuaids, an old school Irish pub in Hell’s Kitchen, as part of ANIMAL’s “Pub(lic) Art” project.
MAKING ‘MOUNTAIN,’ AN ANTI-GAME ABOUT A GOD THAT ENDS SUDDENLY
Behold Mountain, a game by Irish artist and animator David OReilly. The game “begins by telling players ‘you are god’ and then strips them of the ability to influence events in any way.”
LOST AND UNDERGROUND: MEET THE PEOPLE WHO RETRIEVE THE STUFF YOU DROP ON THE TRACKS
The MTA gave us access to the guys who retrieve all the crap that people drop on the tracks. They should have their own reality show.
WHY I’M IN FERGUSON A NIGHT AFTER TEAR GAS, TANKS AND TERROR
Soon after the tear gas started flying in Ferguson, ANIMAL asked protesters to please answer one question: “Why are you here?” Their answers were stirring.
INSIDE JEN AND PAUL’S CRAZY DIY DOUBLE-DECKER CHELSEA ART TOUR BUS AND UNAUTHORIZED SOUVENIR SHOP
Artists Jennifer Catron and Paul Outlaw rented out a double-decker bus, stuffed it with parody art products, and drove it around Chelsea’s art district while conducting an art tour.
YAMS COLLECTIVE BRINGS FERGUSON THEMED INSTALLATION TO THE LES
We chronicled the short pop-up exhibition by artist’s collective YAMS which brought together a chaotic round-up of news and related imagery from the Ferguson protests; it resulted in overwhelming noise.
Animals, they’re just like us. They like to eat, fuck, and do drugs. Here’s a summary of what natural substances animals take to get their buzz on.
UNSANCTIONED, UNCURATED AND UNDERGROUND: NYC’S HIDDEN GRAFFITI GALLERY
Deep beneath the city there are pockets of amazing graffiti befitting of a gallery, but anyone who attends this exhibit can be arrested for trespassing.
IF THE STATUE OF LIBERTY WAS A CONDO
With so many iconic properties being turned into luxury condos we wondered what it would be like to turn the Statue of Liberty into a plush, residential complex.
7-YEAR-OLD PAINTER OPENS EXHIBITION IN NYC, SHARES OPINIONS ON KOONS, BANKSY AND MORE
7-year-old art prodigy Aelita Andre talks high art at her gallery exhibition in New York.
MEET CLET, A EUROPEAN STREET ARTIST WHO DEFIES AUTHORITY BY TWEAKING STREET SIGNS
We tag along with European street artist Clet as he brings his minimalist sticker interventions to Manhattan for the first time ever.
SUPERHERO UTERUS MAN WILL BLOW A HOLE IN YOUR MIND WITH AN XY CHROMOSOME ATTACK
Artist Lu Yang talks to us about creating Uterus Man, the most badass superhero of the year.
DRIVER IN NEWARK RIDES OUT ‘TIL THE WHEEL FALLS OFF
In a video that’s since gone viral, a driver rides through the streets in Newark on just three axles, grinding the asphalt in her wake.
WATCH FRED ARMISEN IMPROVISE NEW YORK ACCENTS FOR NEARLY FIVE MINUTES
Just like everything else the SNL alum touches, this is pretty great. He nails everything from the Upper West Side to Astoria and in between.
SKY HIGH: THE RUSH OF CLIMBING THE WILLIAMSBURG BRIDGE
Unless you scale the Williamsburg Bridge yourself, this first-person account is the closest you’ll get to experiencing the silence and beauty of New York’s greatest view.
WATCH THE LA MARQUETA CHASE, AN UNSANCTIONED BIKE RACE THROUGH NYC TRAFFIC
We joined about forty cyclists at East Harlem’s iconic La Marqueta as they embarked on an unsanctioned 34-mile bike race through NYC.
HERE’S WHAT THE CIA’S TORTURE TECHNIQUES WOULD LOOK LIKE IF GEORGE W. BUSH PAINTED THEM
We painted some of the heinous acts described in the torture report in an approximation of George Bush’s own child-like painting style to illustrate how Bush absolved himself of responsibility. Here’s what torture looks like in Bush’s eyes.
RIP AMAZING PERSON, GRAFFITI ICON, AND NETS SUPERFAN JEFFREY KORN GAMBLERO
A tribute to Jeffrey “KORN” Gamblero, the Nets Superfan who died tragically in December.
(Image: Rhett Jones/ANIMALNewYork)
