// about
Ubahnpeople are the people in the subway
They sit across from me with all their worries, hopes and fears. I sit across from them with all my worries, hopes and fears. Every day is different. I draw the people in the subway. I am one of them. Sometimes someone smirks and then we have a laugh together.
A trip in the subway is like diving into an anonymous, yet intimate world. Crowds are squeezed into a carriage and are forced to spend time together - the time it takes to get from A to B. They travel to work, they travel home, they travel to the gym or to the cinema ...
The subway is a very efficient means of travel because many people can be transported a long distance very fast. This efficiency shows in the passengers’ behaviour. Hypnotised by the journey’s monotony they become lethargic and seem to solidify. Faces become masks. In the confinement of the subway car people want to keep to themselves.
In the course of two years I have adjusted my work style to these conditions. I get on and pick a seat with a good view of my fellow travellers. I take out my sketchbook and my inkpen and start drawing. I only draw head and shoulder portraits, because I have to be really quick to capture the moment. The moment I am allowed to share with these perfect strangers is what matters to me, so I observe even the smallest looks and gestures.
In my // exhibitions I cover walls with my drawings, hanging hundreds of them side by side.
The quantity of my drawings stands for the mass of passengers in the subway, the Ubahnpeople.
more Ubahnpeople
// www.flickr.com/ubahnpeople
subway sketch community
// www.flickr.com/groups/subway-sketches
More projects
// http://hannesgroeblacher.blogspot.com