Scratch-Off Art on Subway Platforms

Featured on nytimes.com

To subway riders feeling impatient, restless or a little destructive, the print advertisements lining the walls of a station can make irresistible targets. Kevin Shea Adams, a photographer, began taking iPhone shots of ads in various states of decay and modification about four years ago. When layered on top of one another, the ads produce collage like art, as strips are peeled away to reveal underlying images. “They’re participatory, they’re public, they’re sort of chaotic and random,” he says. Because Adams commutes between Bushwick and Greenpoint, most of the stations he has frequented are in Brooklyn, where they tend to be less well maintained. “The ads are very tactile,” he says. “When you’re standing waiting for a train, bored out of your mind, you just want to pull them.” Julie Bosman

New York City subway stations: 468

Average weekday subway ridership: 5.8 million

Ads in the subway system: roughly 140,000