Most of us who rely on the New York City subway choose to remain oblivious while riding the trains: We bury our heads in a book, block sound with ear buds and music and avoid prolonged eye contact. Edin Velez says he can’t do that. I find the faces in the subway too interesting. I try to figure out their stories.
Vélez’s 5 minute four channel video installation, Stand Clear is the culmination of years of observing and recording video in subway stations and on trains. By collaging footage that he’s digitally processed to soften shapes and enhance colors, the Brooklyn-based artist has created a dream-like, meditative study of the subway and its riders. Originally presented as a single channel film, State of Rest and Motion premiered at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Now, the film has evolved into a different viewing experience. One that allows viewers to watch in a more interactive way as the images shift and change from screen to screen, drawing the eye from one screen to another. This is not the first time artists have gone into the subway for inspiration. Most famously Walker Evans shot his own subway series, Many Are Called in which he took pictures of Depression – era passengers. Forty years later, Bruce Davidson rode the trains, then full of crime and graffiti at the height of New York’s fiscal crisis. Vélez updates this tradition, bringing it into the digital age.