Here in New York, there’s a whole metropolis awaiting us underneath the street. There are rats that grow up to a foot in size and tunnels for graffiti artists to work in. One of these tunnels is called the Freedom Tunnel and it can be found underneath Riverside Park in Manhattan.

The Freedom Tunnel is the name given by urban explorers, graffiti artists, and a handful of homeless people to the Amtrak tunnel under Riverside Park in Manhattan, New York City. It is also the name of the legendary and constantly evolving graffiti pieces that cover the tunnel walls.

The Freedom Tunnel got its name because the graffiti artist Chris “Freedom” Pape used the tunnel walls to create some of his most notable artwork.

The name may also be a reference to the freedom one may find in this tunnel, the freedom to live unobserved, the freedom to create artwork, and freedom from rent

A site called City Noise has tons of awesome pictures of the tunnel, showing off both it’s architecture and artwork. Some of these photos are beyond brilliant, really showing off the darkness and the light that makes its way underground. Click the link below to see New York as you’ve never seen it before.

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Free wi-fi is surprisingly hard to come by across in Europe, so I wasn’t able to post much during my recent trip across the pond. I’ve made it back home safe and sound now so this weekend and next I’ll be posting more of what I saw on my travels. One place I checked out was Seville, an ancient city in Southern Spain that’s always been an important center for arts and culture.

In addition to being the birthplace of 17th century painter Diego Velazquez and flamenco dancing, Seville is the the setting for several operas, a novel by famed author Miguel Cervantes, and the tale of legendary lover Don Juan. Today Seville is carrying on it’s artistic tradition by being home to some of the coolest street art that I saw during my European journey.

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If you’ve ever wanted to build your own Snake game, you could display from a building, you’ve got to start small first. Good thing Hack A Day’s Ian Lesnet lets you know how to construct a networked LED graffiti wall from scratch.  Showing off a one meter square, five by five matrix of LEDs inspired by Daft Punk, Ian thoroughly explains the step-by-step process to making your own.

Soon enough, you’ll be controlling all the lights displayed on this thing via the Internet. It’s very simple to manipulate with Javascript and it won’t take you very long to do. Happy hacking!

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Awwww! Looks like one of the graffiti babies in NYC got disgruntled and pissed off about the constant police state of the city. Way to be original, man! That Abu Ghraib stencil and cheesy line of text you stole from the MTA are about as original as teabagging a dude in Halo 3. We get it. Abu Ghraib was a fuck up (albeit a quite hilarious one!) and the MTA searches your bag every once in awhile. As Arnold would say, “Stop whining!”

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My buddy Nick saw this Warhol ripoff in SoHo this morning. Very cool. Anyone know who did it?

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Insa Heels is a new high end women’s shoes line made by London graffiti artist Insa and shoe designer Ruth Shaw. Their first style is called “The Cigarette and it will come in three different colorways. Read more to see the other Insa looks.

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Internationally acclaimed graffiti artist Banksy recently visited New Orleans to make some street art. When Hurricane Gustav hit the city last week, at least one of Banksy’s pieces was buried by the floodwaters.

We’ll have to wait for the water to recede to see whether or not the artwork was damaged in the storm. At least one of Banksy’s other New Orleans pieces managed to survive the storm, but there’s still no info on the entire collection. Next time Banksy wants to tour a city he might want to pick a place that’s less prone to natural disasters.

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Street artist KR, creator of the KRINK line of ink and markers has designed a laptop sleeve for the folks over at Incase. The KRINK sleeve has a dripping paint design surrounding its exterior, so everyone will know what a sloppy mess you are when it comes to painting.  It’s said to be compatible with the MacBook Pro 15-inch, but I’m sure you could shove any other 15-incher or something smaller into it.

At $80, its reasonably priced considering some of the other laptop cases we’ve seen.  A 3mm cushioned interior provides padded protection, but don’t be fooled into thinking your laptop can survive a spill. Remember, gravity always wins over technology.

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I’m sure the gas mileage you get in that ‘94 Accord is breathtaking but it really needs to get jazzed up a little. Your car is like a second home, so why not decorate it like one? Infectious has got the top graffiti artists coming up with (surprisingly) low-priced designs that will have chicks hopping into your front seat faster than you can say “Fuck! My catalytic converter just fell off!”

Prices range from $35 all the way up to $500, depending on how much of your car you want tricked out.

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If you were born and raised in West Philadelphia, like the Fresh Prince (not of the Purple Rain variety), then you know the important significance graffiti has on people. Well, so does Christie’s auction house; they’ve decided to let it go for an estimated $1,500 - $2,000. I don’t know what makes it more appealing: the fact that it’s a Hasbro Star Wars toy or the fact that it was sprayed with graffiti in 2002 like the side of some run down crack den.

Regardless, Star Wars fans and graffiti enthusiasts alike will certainly shell out a big chunk of change to have this piece sitting on their shelves.
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