Subway Art: Lisa Dinhofer's "Losing My Marbles"

Keanu Reeves sighting on the subway

Lisa Dinhofer created this artwork in glass mosaic on mezzanine walls at the 42nd Street-Port Authority Bus Terminal subway station. The project was finished in 2003 utilizing materials fabricated by Franz Mayer of Munich, Inc. The artwork is one of the many projects of the MTA's "Arts for Transit" which encourages the use of public transit by presenting visual and performing arts projects in subway and commuter rail stations. From the MTA website: Lisa Dinhofer uses representations of toy marbles to challenge our imaginations by playing with illusions that alter physical perceptions. Her work spans a 32-foot-long wall and two adjacent side walls. Created in glass mosaic, the main artwork consists of a gold-colored trompe l'oeil frame surrounding a black and white tiled floor that serves as the backdrop for the marbles, which seem to roll toward the viewer. On the side walls, free-floating marbles seem to breaking free in space. Dinhofer comments, "Every object I paint actually exists; I work from life. The space I create is believable - but not real. Because I design my own space, I call myself an 'illusionist' painter rather than a 'realist'. The space in my work is invented. It's flattened - like the space we see on a television or a computer screen."