Mystery of the Orange Lines SOLVED

Remember those orange paint lines that turned up a couple of months back all over downtown? It turns out they form a giant MOMO tag! Check out the video above-- apparently the project took two nights to paint, but eight weeks to document.

A high quality Quicktime version of the video can be found at Momo's site-- don't miss the presskit, which includes the full tag-map and a comparison of the project to other large "earth-works" like Smithson's Spiral Jetty:

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jake Dobkin in Arts and Events on November 2, 2006 11:30 AM

Comments [rss]

bob

STOP WITH THE GRAFFITI WORSHIP ALREADY. Sheesh.

zincink

momo is slang and considered an insult...

maybe they would be willing to share some of the trust fund with us poor bastards lol!

Not Amused

Personally I think it would have been better if they would have done it using the length of the boro. Seriously this is yet another case of someone crying out for attention . Some lonely soul crying to be noticed, So sad that they had to go this route . I heard recently that someone else was copying this stupid trick . It's just a matter of time before the police get a wiff of this and the news outlets get there hands on giving it the coberage it doesn't deserve . Maybe that was the end result here . The real question is, Why did Kellogg's stop making the Apple poptarts ? Can anybody here tell me why ?

JGNY

pensive, I agree that there is a certain amount of egoism in the work but most street art, if not all is very self-centered. Many respected artists spent most of their time painting pictures of themselves. The reason this is interesting is because it works on two scales; first the very large which requires a technology other then our eyes to see and the other is very minute, a small line on the ground. Look, I am not saying this kid is a genius, but I do believe there is potential there.

pensivepuppy

Just because it's on a large scale doesn't mean it's not lame. This project is one step away from a fraternity prank.

This has more to do with this idiot's ego than with "art". He got some attention, woohoo.

Even his name (momo) is lame.

JGNY

I like it. It certainly follows a trajectory of landscape artists who work on a large scale. While it is not as aesthetically appealing as a Goldworthy, Smithson, or Chirsto I do applaud the rigor and effort.

disconnec

i think it's pretty neat.

so nyah!

anomalous

momo not MoMA.

PJ

It's a cool idea, but the execution is really boring.

And having a website about it.. hello, is this the police?

Michael Green

Let me get this straight if some inner city kid does this to the city THEY CALL IT VANDELISM...but if its for the MOMA its called Art.

Nice. I call it pointless and vandelism...Did MOMA clean this shit up or does that not matter. While hundreds of today's youth are shaken down for felt tip markers and spraycans.

I call this bullshit.

dceverist

that was a complete waste of time. it's not like you could even see what it spelled from above... pointless...

lani

There goes 2 minutes and 45 seconds of my life I can't get back. AWESOME!

Dude

I am totally underwhelmed! The city should charge him for the cleaning tab.

anomalous

do we know that momo is a trust fund hipster? maybe he (is momo a he?), is hipster without a trust fund, or has a trust fund but isn't a hipster. Oh, the permutations!

E rock r

Very uninteresting.

zincink

I'll admit its different..but since when is destroying property art.

Deconstruction-ism.

ism's

Does this person know what a momo is?

Chris

The map looks like the work of someone who tried to write their name on an Etch a Sketch.

Rodney P. Sweetchops

Art? Are you joking? Come on Gothamist, a bunch of orange lines drawn by some trust-fund hipster is hardly "art".

kz

Wow. So powerfully pointless.

Dan

Durn it! I was meaning to map this out for weeks since I first noticed it, I kept telling my girlfriend 'i bet it spells something'. Theres a blue line now too, at least on broadway.