UNION SQUARE POEM Aka SUBWAYSURFER’S Refrain To Hurt and Pain

SUBWAYSURFER’S Refrain To Hurt and Pain


Oh where, Oh where in Union Square
Are those funny caricature artists?
They made us stare!
They were right there!!
And now they have departed!
We thought they’d stay,
But they’ve gone away!
Are they ever coming back?
Oh no! They’re gone!
And it’s so wrong
That Bloomie’s on the attack.
He took their spaces
Rubbed dirt in their faces,
Used the police to take them away to other places..
And now they’re on longer drawing funny faces of all the races,
On the sidewalks after dark
In Times Square, or Bryant Park...
Uptown,or Downtown,
we cant find them
They’re not around…
Oh where , oh where can they be found?

Bur wait! There’s still one Underground!

Da Name’s SUBWAYSURFER,
Im getting busy under the Eartha
keep ya head up, New York I’ll never ever desert ya!
Caricature cartooning, is in my blood you see,
It’ll take more than a wacky law to ever put a stop to me
My games always been in motion
Continuous and steady, just like the ocean.
BMT, IRT, IND and even on the Number 6 train and even the B
Too many trains to continue my reign, and ever put a stopp to me.
Feel Free 2 join in too start drawing today, c’mon! let’s draw! It’s cool.

Clownin' commuters regardless of what they say…
Now that they think they “leveled” our playing field,
time to make em pay.
For drawings I did once, 4 free
I’ll gladly do now 4 a fee.

Gotta roll with the punches in Bloombergs new economy..
Since he wants to make it about
Economics and Finance,
It’s high time we, as artists, rise up in unity and take our chance
To advance, to stop lookin in the mirror no more time to prance.

Let’s arm ourselves with paper pencils and paint,
Some say, “This is over” but I say it aint
Imagination and contemplation
Has always been a lethal combination

Let’s use our artistic creative minds
To regroup, re access, reorganize, and take control of our minds.
Continue to draw
Dont cha dare snore

A world devoid of Art
Is a dreadfully horrible bore
Take time to educate and evaluate, don’t be clueless
You were Born to be an Artist
Be Thankful to GOD
Not Every One can DO THIS.

When you roll back the covers
And turn down the volume of all this
“Quality of life” Political Hypocrisy
You’ll find it’s fundamentally about jealously.
Jealous of ALL OF US because we’re FREE
It’s exactly how they WISH they COULD be.

Anal Retentive, Money hungry minds
Will ALWAYS be CLUELESS.
Use your imagination
Make your OWN money
We did it before
Let’s get Through This.

By Elgin Subwaysurfer Bolling Caricature Street Artist


copyright 2010 all rights reserved

Beautful Gesture drawing from the train

I drew this very quickly with a sweep of my pencil as far as the body is concerned SHe was standing this way for an instant and I managed to nail this beautiful pose. I was absolutely giddy when I inked it. It's moments like this where I say that drawing live on the subway is the REAL "LIFE DRAWING". No way could I get a paid model to pose like this with so much natural grace and personality.

Follow and ugly kid home and see if somone ugly dont open the door for them

If the KIDD is THIS ugly what must the parents look like???

subway seated figure drawing

did a study on women sitting on the subway, Interesting body language what a story the body tells!

caricature crowd scene

another series of caricature faces of past subway caricatures put into a crowd scene The challenge to a good caricature artist is to actually SEE the face that you're drawing. Most artists who "can draw" get stuck in "generic drawing mode" and after a few drawings in a party setting especially, start to draw everyone the same, and even resort in some cases to racial stereotyping. This should NEVER happen. I always FORCE myself to be a keep observer of people and NOT to flinch. The "flinch response" is natural to us human beings as we look at strangers. We learn, culturally, not to hold our haxe longer than a few seconds, and to immediately turn away if spotted. Prolonged staring is reserved for young children who haven't learned the "rules " yet, and for mentally ill people who have abandoned all rules! LOL!  Drawing on the subway day in and day out has helped me to sharpen my ability to SEE what's there and not just to "draw what I THINK I see' Putting this collage of faces together has helped me to see also how much Ive grown as an artist, and also how truly fascinating people's faces are. I feel, that as an artist you must truly "fall in love" a little , with each face you draw or you wont have the proper passion to draw it. I always endeavor also, to NOT just "draw the face" in an objective sense, but to "draw the personality" of the subject. If I succeed in doing THAT I will manage to get an "objective" likeness also.

THE UNAPOLOGETIC SUBWAYSURFER CALL TO ACTION MESSAGE

Maybe you're a face in the crowd that is thinking "wow, Id really like subwaysurfer to draw a cool caricature of me like this!" Well, you dont have to sit there wishing! just drop me an email at
cartoons4u2@aol.com
and lets do YOUR caricature!
Prices are more affordable than you think, and just think how jealous you'll make all your facebook friends because you got a cool caricature to use as your avatar, while they are stuck using their same tied old photograph! Give me a hollar and lets make this happen!

crowd scene

was constructing a caricature crowd scene for a recent project that a client rejected much to my relief because it was hard to do! LOL! here is one of the crowd scenes.

Gift caricature

Seated passengers on a train

spray can art

due to the popularity of this post, I thought Id draw another in full color.
 If you like the pics feel free to contact me for commissions. You will find I am very reasonable. Also, If you download these pics PLEASE INCLUDE MY URL that way traffic will come back to this site.

CAN DEFINITELY CREATE ORIGINAL ART LIKE THIS FOR YOUR APPAREL OR PAGES! JUST DROP ME A LINE!

Most interesting face at Mayor Bloombergs party

Did a party for Mayor Bloomberg's company in New Jersey, and hands down THIS was the most interesting face in the room!

Two friends on the R train

Caught these two talking on The R train one evening. I drew them both on a small notebook pad which explains I hope, the odd placing of the figures. The girl kept looking down at her chest as if she could not believe they were really hers.... she seemed very proud of them.

Big Gurl in a hoddie

Yakin away on her cell phone....She was big And tall. Even sitting down she seemed taller than me standing up....

Hot day!!!

Random drawings of some folks I saw in Baskin Robbins trying to get refreshment from the ninety degree heatwave this week.

The Funniest one was the guy who just HAD to have his HOT latte in the ninety degree heat!!! now THAT"S a JAVA JUNKIE FOR SURE! LOL! Then there was this girl in the checkered skirt who was wearing a long sleeved sweater of all things in the heat....

Klingon Warrior on the L Train

I guess his Klingon Bird of Prey Starship was in the shop for repairs....

A Train Alien

Remember that SCi FI show back in the old days called "V"? If I remember correctly, the V Aliens talked moved, smelled and looked like humans ....until they stuck out that forked snake like tongue......I think I saw that on this chick while she ate her potato chips breakfast one morning during rush hour....

Number 6 train "YOU THINK IM PRETTY, DONT YOU??"

She had this look on here face that you didn't want to argue with...

The great Chris Chua

When I want inspiration to draw CHUA is one of the guys I look to. SO adventurous so extreme with his caricature concept I wonder how his mind processes all this madness and STILL gets a great likeness. Amazing.

old man young man

Clark from the F Train This Weekend

Clark here was bold enough to ask for his own caricature after seeing me draw a young lady sitting directly across from me on the train. How could I refuse?
This version is rather tame... I think I'll exaggerate it more later...heh, heh...

Young Bearded man on Queens Bound A train Sat evening

I boarded the train at Chambers Street after an enjoyable afternoon in the city. I sat down next to this young man who had such a great face for caricature I could not wait to bet started. I had already been drawing for a little while much to the amusement of onlookers, and was in such a generous mood that I'd been literally giving caricatures away throughout my commute today. "who are you drawing now?" his female companion asked... I'm drawing your boyfriend, I replied. He has a great face!! and went immediately to work having just passed Jay Street Boro Hall. Thanks, He replied, but Im getting off next stop. I knew that the Hoyt street station was less than 30 second s away so I quickly made a gesture of him promising that I'd upload a memory sketch this evening. THIS is the final drawing.
One man was so impressed, that he gave me his business card and "demanded' a call! this was my second "demand" of the day, the first being an Advertising executive that Im currently doing a logo caricature for.
Definitely a good "hunting day!"