A Lovely Profile of the Man Who’s On a Mission to Sketch the All the Art of the NYC Subway System

Great Big Story caught up with Philip Ashforth Coppola, The artist who is currently in his 38th year of an incredible journey to document the amazing underground art of the New York City subway system. We previously wrote about Coppola in November 2015.

To put it lightly, Philip Ashforth Coppola loves New York City’s subway stations. For the past 38 years, the New Jersey-based illustrator has been exploring the Big Apple’s underground stations and sketching its mosaics in amazing detail with just a ballpoint pen. In 1984, Copp published his first volume of subway drawings, “Silver Connections.” He continues to document the city’s underground, but doesn’t expect to finish until 2040. Keep at it Phil!

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.