Subway Art- Lower Manhattan

Red Line. Trains 1.2.3

CHAMBERS STREET

Entrance. Massimo Vignelli. Helvetica

Every NYC subway station greets new yorkers and visitors with clean, democratic typeface. Designed in 1970, the signs became a signature of New York as much as yellow taxis.

Oculus. Kristin Jones/ Andrew Ginzel/ Rinaldo Piras. 1998.

Source here

Source here

Oculus consists of 300 unique mosaic eyes that were drown from a photographic study completed by Jones and Ginzel. The project represents the eyes of young New Yorkers and is completed in stone mosaic by Rinaldo Piras. The central eye positioned on the floor completes the composition ans serves as a center of the world map. 

Stuyvesant High School, with concentration in science, engineering and technology, is located near the Chambers street station. It creates the direct connection between the mosaic eyes of the station and the eyes of the children that soon will be responsible for the world. The art work was placed there to humanize the station and create a sense of intimacy for the commuters as the eyes are the most vulnerable and telling part of the human nature. This was before 9/11. The subway station is in the close proximity to the World Trade Center, which significantly changed the perception of the art work. As the mechanisms of public surveillance tightened up, the eyes could be seen as the symbol of authority presence, diminishing the intended sense of intimacy. Notably, New York City Hall, Manhattan Municipal Building and the Court House are all located near the Chambers street and are the major destinations for commuters, adding up to the sense of govern control and sending commuters to Orwellian 1984.

WALL STREET

Subway Wall, Harry Roseman, 1990

Source here

Subway wall is bronze relief that represents of underlying geology of the area. The nerrative of the subway wall is still relevant today as it was 25 years ago. As commuters decent underground, it is expected to see rock formation as they are the Telamons of life on the island. The Wall became a symbol of tamed nature that cateres to the people.

READING RESPONSE

Pasternak & Eccles // bottom pg 87 - top pg 88

Pasternak talks about how there were “other goals” than just giving artists new opportunities “beyond the galleries white cube.” Two examples of these goals he gives are “urban agendas” and working to “counteract a kind of visual bankruptcy” in daily city life that seemed devoid of creativity. 

To highlight the first urban agenda, Pasternak references Times Square as a site that before it was redeveloped during Gulliani’s maryoralty, was a seedy, dismal spot within the city that was a focus for trying to install public art. During the 70s and 80s, Times Square had become a hub for crime, drugs, and dingy sex clubs. This lasted through the 80s into the early 90s. 

America underwent a major recession from 73-75, and New York like most of America was hit hard.During the 70s, New York City on a whole was much seedier and poverty stricten, even as the nation’s economy boomed during the 80s. (http://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/14/business/economic-scene-puzzling-poverty-of-the-80-s-boom.html). And this is the environment Pasternak is describing when he says that there was a push to counteract the “visual bankruptcy” of the city. Furthermore, he says that as “artists’ interests, the economy, and the city itself changed, our programming necessarily changed.” Art during that time, like any time in history, had broad scopes of artist influence separated by smaller movements within the collective whole. Andy Warhol was an art celebrity in New York, and in the 80s Jeff Koons began to rise to fame. Art influences varied from Postmodernism to Deconstructivism to Figuration Libre to others. As the nation’s economy fluxuated, so did New York’s. As a result, funding for public works fluctuated and so organizers both wanted to, as members of zeitgeist, and were forced to push for art that would actually get funded. This is always true.

In Eccles response he continue Pasternak’s coment on urban issues by calling into focus that in the 80s and 90s the center of attention in New York was urban planning. Since urban planning often operates on a massive scale within massive governmental organizations, he talks about how this framework posed extremely challenging for artists to work within. Project may not be completed for half a decade. All of this is related to the economic state in which New York was living at that time. The 80s brought prosperity, despite the huge economic gap in society, and the 90s brought Gulliani. Despite controversial tactics and legacy, crime was brought to an all-time low, and places that were seen as dingy began to be “cleaned up.” (http://www.gothamgazette.com/commentary/91.tierney.shtml) I personally might argue that in the example of Times Square, these types of places were Disney-fied. This is the time period in which Eccles notes that “in the mid-1990s there was a complete realignment of strategies. The idea,” he says, “was to commission great artists and try to get great work in the public realm.” It seems that there is a fundamental shift in the language he is using here than in the previous comments made by Pasternak. While Pasternak’s comments were focused on how the programming of public art commissions fluctuated with the eb and flow of artistic taste, economic prosperity, and urban life, Eccles comments seem to focus on the artwork itself. 

The Wall. Forest Meyeres 1973

Crack is Wack. Keith Haring 1986

Metronome. Kristin Jones and Andrew Ginzel 1996

Brooklyn Subway Art

Subway Stop: Lormier

Artist: Jackie Chang

Artwork: Signs of Life 2001

Jackie Chang juxtaposes text and images to create witty and meaningful artwork at the Lorimer stop. She creates glass tile mosaics to illustrate similar looking words, with meaning. 

History - Your Story

Same - Sane

Faith - Fate

Use - Less

All pieces speak to ones presence in a larger community. Words also hover on the ceiling such as "man" "self" and "it" which contrast the sense community, switching attention on the individual. 

Subway Stop: Broadway Junction

Artist: Al Loving

Artwork: Brooklyn, New Morning 2001

Broadway Junction is the largest elevated subway stop, home to many commuters passing through everyday. This piece is a made of 75 unique stained glass mosaic panels and a 7 x 10 ft glass tile wall. Al Loving described it as "spirit of interdependence and interconnection as an important aspect of the American Experience." The work reflects the scale of the station and its service as a crossroads for the people. The natural colored light offers an engaging atmosphere and sense of optimism and well-being for people on their travel. 

Subway Arts : 23rd st / 26th st / Union Square / 14th & 8ave

"Life Underground (Tom Otterness)" at 14th/8ave
Life Underground by Tom Otterness is a large set of sculptures at the 14th/8ave station. It is place all over this pretty large station from the staircases between the A,C,E and the L trains to the Elevators and the Exits. Some of them are placed subtly that a lot of people might not even notice unless they pay extra attention, for example, the ones by the exit. They are a sculpture of an animal or a human doing their own certain thing. I pass by this station whenever I go to work and have noticed that there were the sculptures because some of them are pretty large in scale, but while I was observing for the assignment  I realized that I have not noticed almost half of them before. A lot of them are in every little place that people usually don't have their eyes on. But once you notice them, each of every one of them are very interesting and thought provoking. It almost made me feel like the whole subway station was one huge gallery space for this artwork as the work was very harmonious with the place itself. 

"Memories of Twenty-Third Street (Keith Godard)" at 23rd street

 

Memories of Twenty-Third Street by Keith Godard at the 23rd street station, which is quite similar to the artwork at the 28th street station,  is a set of mosaic works of hats. It is done on the walls at the platforms where passengers constantly pass by. I have seen people taking pictures of themselves with the hats above their heads, making it look as if they were wearing the hat. But when I was observing the other side of the platform, I noticed that you can capture interesting moments where people walk by the hats and there would be a very short moment when the hat is right above their heads(video), which I found really interesting. It lets the subway riders have a short entertaining moment while waiting for their trains. 

"City Dwellers (Mark Hadjipateras)" at 28th street
City Dwellers by Mark Hadjipateras is a set of mosaic work located at the 28th street station both inside/outside of the gates. The mosaic work guides you from the staircases all the way to the platforms. They are very colorful and playful and each seems to have a little story. At least for me, it definitely seemed to brighten the atmosphere of the station, which would normally just be an underground space that has nothing to interpret or entertaining, but just where we have to be in to wait for our trains. 

"Framing Union Square (Mary Miss)" at Union Square

"Framing  Union Square" by Mary Miss is a set of 6 architectural panels located in Union Square subway station on the way to 4,5,6 trains. Before I paid attention to it, I almost thought that it was a part of some construction going on in the station. You can see the structure of these panels and the raw surface on the back, which seemed to be the walls of the Union Square station. I think it is to let the audience to see the station below its surface and how it is actually constructed, which the passengers would only look over or don't even think about otherwise.

Public Art - Union Square

MTA Artworks - Upper East

MTA Artworks - Upper East

Er Xia

Wenqingao Lei

Kun Yang

Subway Station: 59th street

Artist: Elizabeth Murray

Artwork: Blooming

The mezzanine between the BMT level and the IRT East Side/Lexington Ave. Subway level has a large-scale mosaic mural entitled Blooming, by Elizabeth Murray. It covers all four walls of the mezzanine area. The mosaic features larger version of the coffee cups and slippers found on the platform walls, with the text: "In dreams begin responsibilities" and "Conduct your blooming in the noise and discipline of the whirlwind." These lines float from the coffee cups and are excerpts from poetry of Delmore Schwartz and Gwendolyn Brooks. The arboreal images relate to the neighborhood that was called Bloomingdale even before the department store arrived. "After the blooming tree, I added stepping shoes and steaming coffee cups. These are part of the ritual of every morning or evening subway trip", says the artist.

Subway Station: 86th street

Artist: Peter Sis

Artwork: Happy City

86th Street, a station on the Lexington Avenue,opened on July 18, 1918. The station has four side platforms. Old-style wall and ceiling lights have been removed. A renovation was completed in the fall of 2005. There is no crossover between the uptown and downtown directions; fare control is at the upper platform level. Peter Sis' "Happy City" glass and etched stone murals line the walls of the station. Sis is a Czech-born artist who also designed the "Subway Whale" posters found in the R142 cars when they first arrived in New York City.

The mural includes all of the museum buildings from the Museum Mile located in the Upper East Side. For example, the Metropolitan Museum of Art is located on the top-left corner of the “eye”, the Guggenheim Museum is located on the top-right corner of the “eye.” This piece shows concrete buildings located in the Upper East Side. It presents the subway with rich history and culture.

Subway Station：96th st

Artist: Laura Bradley

Artwork: City Suite

Marble mosaics are located at each of the four stairway entrances to the subway platforms. The artist also designed the pattern in the railings, the mezzanine floor, and the station's new platform wall mosaic name tablets.

This station is very spatial like the other 3 stations we went on the Upper East Side due to the limited amount of people using the public transportation. This shows the population and the atmosphere of the Upper East Side.

Subway Station：103th st

Artist: Nitza Tufino

Artwork: Neo-Boriken

The mezzanine has mosaics indicating uptown and downtown directions. The monkey mosaic shows the Bronx zoo. The mosaic very abstract and colorful, bringing playfulness into the Upper East Side.

CENTRAL PARK – SUBWAY STATIONS ART

CENTRAL PARK 

SUBWAY STATIONS ART

by Janine Cohen

SUBWAY STATION: Fifth Avenue/59th Street

Artist: Ann Schaumburger in COLLABORATION with miotto mosaics

Art Work: Urban Oasis, 1997

Urban Oasis made in 1997 is like a zoo full of animals and birds from Central Park. This cute animals are made of glass mosaic. Ann Schaumburger says: "As a painter and teacher, I wanted this piece to appeal to children and to the child in the adult. I'm happy that the work is accessible and touchable." The creatures fly, crawl, leap, swim, and interact with each other from floor to ceiling.

The station features penguin mosaics while the main mezzanine at 60th street features a full menagerie of colorful animals including butterflies, horses, birds, chimpanzees, etc. Also on the platform are ceramic polar bear mosaics in white.

To prepare her designs, Schaumburger photographed animals and animal statues in the Central Park Zoo. "We chose glass rather than ceramic for the mosaics because of its greater translucency and color gradation," says Schaumburger. "And I selected a color palette that echoes the colors in the station's original historic tile work, much of which has been retained."

http://web.mta.info/mta/aft/permanentart/permart.html?agency=nyct&line=R&artist=1&station=4

SUBWAY STATION: 81st Street-Museum of Natural History

ArtistS: Arts for Transit Collaborative

Art Work: For Want of a Nail, 2000

This subway station is very entertaining and interesting. As the American Museum of Natural History is directly above the station, the whole theme of this art is related to the museum. To show that there is so much diversity and range in the museum, the artist team used a variety of materials such as glass and ceramic mosaic, handmade ceramic relief tiles, hand-cast glass, bronze and cut granite floor tiles. The mosaics represent extinct (color grey) and living animals (color). The work throughout the station gathers images from outer space to the earth’s core and from the first organisms to emerge to mammals of today.

The artwork is inspired by an old proverb from which it took its title:

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the message was lost.
For want of a message the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

 http://web.mta.info/mta/aft/permanentart/permart.html?agency=nyct&line=C&station=2

https://visualingual.wordpress.com/2014/10/21/for-want-of-a-nail-by-arts-for-transit-collaborative/

SUBWAY STATION: Cathedral Parkway (110th Street)

Artist: Christopher Wynter

Art Work: Migrations, 1999

At this station, Christopher Wynter created an artwork “Migration” in the year 1999. Wynter created three large mosaic murals that represent the migration and African Homelands. "Overall, the panels present the ideas of uprooting, migration, and progress in symbolic form," says artist Christopher Wynter. Also every color, form, object is a symbol and represents something about African culture.

Cathedral Parkway is located below Frederick Douglass Circle. Douglass was the abolitionist crusader and he is also depicted in the artwork.

http://web.mta.info/mta/aft/permanentart/permart.html?agency=nyct&line=C&station=1

SUBWAY STATION: Central Park North (110th Street)

Artist: Maren Hassinger

Art Work: Message from Malcolm, 1998

The art work created by Maren Hassinger in 1998, honors Malcolm X, an American Muslim minister and a human rights activist. The artwork consists of quotations made out of mosaic panels that are placed in the stairway walls at the entrance and on the station platform. Maren Hassinger said, "Basically, I wanted to make something that behaved very physically with the site while also honoring the memory of Malcolm X..."  She also added, “Here the idea of power, leadership, and spiritual support are linked. Malcolm X believed that we as African Americans have the power to determine our destinies. This station is a reminder of that truth."

http://web.mta.info/mta/aft/permanentart/permart.html?agency=nyct&line=2&station=23