Sometime before Christmas, street artist and pun master Hanksy held a "building destruction party" inside of an abandoned tenement in the East Village. He had put up a few pieces in there, and invited some other artists to come by and do the same. On December 20th the place was alive once again—for one night—with bands, revelers, and art. Since that went off without a hitch, and since he still had keys to the place, he decided to do it all over again.
Over the past week, working in Polar Vortex conditions, he did some buffing and clean-up in the space, and invited 35 different artists to help fill it up even more. Last night an invitation-only/word-of-mouth event was held inside, lasting only two hours and ending before even your high school curfew.
Photographer Scott Lynch attended the unauthorized art show for us—called Surplus Candy—and reports back that with a tale from earlier this week, when the whole thing was being created: "A low point in the process was when a pipe burst in the middle of the coldest night, causing a waterfall that could only be stopped by anonymously alerting the landlord." But the murals, tags, wheatpastes, stickers, and installations survived, and shockingly no authority figures came down to ruin the fun. They had somehow pulled it all off.
The show featured an all-star roster of graffiti writers and street artists, including: Glif, NDA, Elle, Mr. Toll, Wizardskull, Dee Dee, Icy and Sot, Russell King, Sonni, Alice Mizrachi (AM), Foxx Face, Tony DePew, Ski, CB23, Col Wallnuts, Juicy, Dick Mama, Tone Tank, Nicolas Holiber, Numerika, Enzo and Nio, Kosby, UR New York, on and on. And, of course, Hanksy himself, who had a bunch of his signature pop-culture puns on display.
And all of that work is still inside now—once the lights were turned off last night, Hanksy locked the front door and walked away. He told us this morning he has "immediate cross country plans" that won't allow him to host a sequel to Surplus Candy, but says "hopefully this inspires other artists to look beyond the gallery for exhibiting work. Get creative and get inspired. And then when it's all over, get drunk."
