Artworks in the New York City Subway

by James Rodgers

New York City is an international platform for public art, ranging from politically charged works like Ai Weiwei’s Good Fences Make Good Neighbors in Washington Square Park to less overt and more humorous works like Erwin Wurm’s Hot Dog Bus. Public art receives a lot of publicity from the press and often spark discussion and controversy over their intent, meaning, and location. One collection of permanent “public” works, however, is consistently overlooked by New Yorkers – those in the underground subway system. Over 300 works have been installed in subway stations since the founding of MTA Arts & Design (formerly Arts for Transit and Urban Design) since 1985 and provide riders with a communal aesthetic experience. It began as part of a social program to reform the subway system in order to reduce crime rates, as well as make transit a more enjoyable experience.

The network displays an impressive array of internationally renowned artists including Roy Lichtenstein (Times Square Mural), and Vito Acconci (Will-Slide/Room of Tranquility, 161st Street). The works were and continue to be commissioned out of necessity, for economic and social purposes. At a 2012 TEDx Talk in Cape May, New Jersey, the original director for MTA Arts & Design, Sandra Bloodworth, discussed a brief history of aesthetics in the New York transit system, explaining why and how the city took the direction it did in the 1980s. The original plan for the transit system from 1899 necessitated aesthetically pleasing design in order to bring riders below ground and decrease traffic in the city. In the 1980s, during the peak of crime in New York, the administration of Ed Koch began to improve the economy and rebuilt the transit system. They reverted to the original aesthetic intentions of the transit system – using durable materials in artworks, integrating of artworks into the station structures, and showcasing subjects in the artworks that refer to the city itself.

Tom Otterness, Life Underground, 2000. New York City. https://www.timeout.com/newyork/art/best-subway-art-in-nyc

Tom Otterness, Life Underground, 2000. New York City. https://www.timeout.com/newyork/art/best-subway-art-in-nyc

Probably the most cohesive element of these works is this use of a durable medium and materials. In order to be resilient, the artists used bronze, ceramic tiles, photographs, sculptures, digital media, etc. Beyond that, the subjects and styles of the works can be varied throughout the system. Many are inspired by “New York” themes and history to celebrate a sense of cultural diversity. One example is evident in Life Underground by Tom Otterness. The work was installed in 2001 in the Eighth Avenue station and consists of well over a hundred whimsical bronze sculptures. Most are unique but conform to a few caricature-types of people found in the city, such as money-bag heads, MTA workers, white-collared workers, cops, as well as objects such as giant pennies and surreal telephone booths. The money bag figures are inspired by Thomas Nast’s satirical cartoons of corrupt Tammany Hall in the 1890’s, when the subway was being built. An alligator is eating a man from a sewer grate evoking the humorous urban legend of alligators living in the subway.

To take another example, in 2007 16 Windows by Eugenie Tung was installed in New Lots Avenue, Brooklyn. On the elevated outdoor subway stop, across the East River and approximately six miles from the previous work, the artist installed 16 stained-glass windows, each portraying a person in their apartment involved in some part of their routine. In a statement Tung wrote “My proposal, 16 Windows, is to use glass to depict the lives unseen through windows but behind the blinds, engaged in common, day-to-day activities that we all can relate to”. 16 Windows is in a different medium from Life Underground but brings out the same theme of a transient, shared experience in New York. Some works, however, are specific to their neighborhood to highlight cultural diversity and individuality, such as Harlem Timeline, a mosaic by Willie Birch at 135th street which celebrates famous African-Americans from Harlem. Some even refer to the spirit of the subway itself, such as the mosaic Platform Diving by Deborah Brown at Houston street.

The variety of subjects and artists demonstrates a cultural prerogative in representing the city that emphasizes the essence of society, community, and individualism. In this way it synthesizes the universal and the commonplace, the mysterious and the overt, the past and the present. Lee Brozgol’s mosaic The Greenwich Village Murals demonstrates this. Installed in 1994, the four mosaic murals are taken from the illustrations of students from P.S. 41, depicting the history of Greenwich Village. Each one has a name – “Bohemians”, “Rebels”, “Founders”, and “Providers”. In the mural “Rebels”, a plaque explains that it features “anarchists, pacifists, feminists, communists, insurgents, and visionaries backlit by the glaring red hues of the Stonewall Rebelling and culminating in a glimpse of the Village’s fames Gay Pride parade”. Featured in this mural are representations of Billie Holiday, Emma Goldman, Henrietta Rodman, John Reed, and other notable activists with ties to Greenwich Village. This particular scene highlights social turmoil which shaped society both on a local and international level, seen in the violent anguish of the simplified figures and background. This particular work is striking due to the collaboration of young, elementary school students and a professional artist. It is a work of social remembrance to which the future inhabitants (now grown adults) of a long and rich tradition connect with and place in a mundane sector of public life.

Public works like these serve society on a number of levels. They work to create social stability, celebrate individuality and historical achievements, and on a personal level create an enjoyable aesthetic experience for the everyday person. This extensive body of work is not only connected culturally but physically, as the subway system reaches nearly every corner of the five boroughs. Reversed to how a museum determines the path of the visitor by organizing art intellectually, the work of art in the subway is determined to be viewed by the path any particular transit customer necessarily takes in order to go about their daily lives. In this way the particular visual culture of a society has been mapped and presents people with a reminder of the beautifully diverse history and culture of their home.

To browse all the works on display, please visit: https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/artwork

Bibliography

Bloodworth, Sandra. "Re-creation of Public Spaces: Sandra Bloodworth at TEDxCapeMay." Youtube,TEDx Talks, 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLEgCMpxmAg&t=90s

Tang, Eugenie. “16 Windows”. Date of access 21 October 2019. https://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/Artwork:_16_Windows_(Eugenie_Tung)

“The New York City Subway System.” Date of access 21 October 2019. https://www.ny.com/transportation/subways/ 

“MTA Arts & Design – History.” Date of access 21 October 2019. http://web.mta.info/mta/aft/about/history.html

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