Faceted Glass Subway Artwork on the Elevated Tracks of the 2 Line in the Bronx

The elevated tracks of the 2 subway line showcase numerous artworks made of faceted glass panels by various artists. The top 5 photos depict the work of Tomie Arai called "Back to the Garden" at the Pelham Parkway station featuring fall foliage, spring blossoms and summer wildflowers accent and glass inserts of historical photographs from the Bronx neighborhoods. Arai chose the subject to honor these sites with a panorama of trees and plant life indigenous to New York City.

The other stunning artwork shown above is called "Animal Tracks" by Naomi Campbell, located at West Farms Sq.-East Tremont Ave.-177th St. The panels of faceted glass mosaic depict animals of the Bronx Zoo.

HIVE (BLEECKER STREET) - Leo Villareal's LED Light Installation At Bleecker Street Subway Station

Last year, artist Leo Villareal created LED art called HIVE (BLEECKER STREET) now installed at the Bleecker Street subway station. Made of LED tubes, custom software, electrical hardware, aluminum and stainless steel, the LED sculpture takes the form of a honeycomb, above the stairs that marks the new transfer point connecting the IRT and IND subway lines. Bright colors, outlining each hexagonal honeycomb shape move across the sculpture. Villareal created an unprecedented art experience for transit riders who use the station, in its use of technology and LEDs. Hive (Bleecker Street) has a playful aspect in its reference to games. Riders will be able to identify individual elements within a larger context and track this movement. The work explores the compulsion to recognize patterns and the brain’s hard coded desire to understand and make meaning. The patterns also take inspiration from the research of the mathematician John Conway who invented the Game of Life, the best-known cellular automata program. Hive (Bleecker Street) speaks to a diverse audience - it is abstract and evocative and can have many different meanings. It creates an experience for riders through changing patterns presented in randomized progression. Overall, the piece resonates with the activity of the station, transportation network and the city itself. The work was fabricated by Parallel Development. Information from the MTA website.

Delightful Sculptures Underground

Life Underground (1998) is a permanent public art installation at the 14th Street - 8th Avenue Station (ACEL trains) created by Tom Otterness. The installation is a series of whimsical miniature bronze sculptures depicting cartoon like characters showing people and animals in various situations, and additional abstract sculptures. The delightful sculptures are scattered throughout the station platforms, stairs, benches and passageways. Otterness said the subject of the work is "the impossibility of understanding life in New York" and describes the arrangement of the individual pieces as being “scattered in little surprises.”

New Year's Eve-Themed Subway Art: "The Revelers" Glass Mosaic by Jane Dickson

Jane Dickson created wall glass mosaics installed along the passageway that connects the Times Square 42nd Street subway station to the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Fabricated by Miotto Mosaic Art Studios, the glass mosaic is called "The Revelers" (2008) depicting the age-old impulse to gather and party to welcome the New Year. About 70 colorful mosaics of life-size figures blowing party horns and wearing party hats like the revelers in Times Square's New Year's Eve celebration comprise the subway permanent art installation. According to the artist, she wanted to "create something that lightens up your day." The artwork was commissioned by the MTA Arts for Transit and MTA New York City Transit.

Stained Glass Art On Elevated Subway Stations In the Bronx

A series of colored-glass panels on the elevated subway stations in the Bronx has been acclaimed as an exemplary work of public art. The artworks are made of pieces of faceted glass, which are about an inch thick and are held together by epoxy, for durability in harsh outdoor environments. Pictured above are two artworks installed on the Nereid Avenue station.

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."

Michelle Greene's "Railrider's Throne"

Permanently installed on the downtown platform of the 116th Street/Columbia University subway station is a welded steel chair called "Railrider's Throne" (1991) by Michelle Greene. The oversized grand chair was created to introduce humor into the station, and to "create a whimsical environment that allows the commuter to feel special as opposed to alienated" while waiting for the train on the platform.

"Times Square Mural", Subway Art by Roy Lichtenstein

Roy Lichtenstein created this mural called "Times Square Mural" made of porcelain enamel on a wall of the Time Square station (N, Q, R, S, W, 1, 2, 3 mezzanine). The 6-foot-high, 53-foot-long mural revisits the history of New York transportation, and captures the spirit of the subway, with its linear movement and dynamic energy. The central image is a futuristic bullet shaped car, resembling a winged spaceship zipping through an underground station. The first panel shows a portion of an arch made of tile and masonry, the materials of the 1904 subway. The second arch is made of steel, representing the Machine Age of the 1930's. The 42 image takes its inspiration from the architectural detail of the subway.

Subway Mosaic Mural: "Blooming" by Elizabeth Murray At Lexington Avenue/59th Street

BLOOMING is the title of this beautiful subway art at the mezzanine of the Lexington Avenue/59th Street subway station. The large-scale mosaic mural by Elizabeth Murray covers all four walls of the mezzanine area. The mosaic features large coffee cups and slippers with the text: "In dreams begin responsibilites" 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 images of trees 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. Source: mta.info.

"Her paintings are generally abstract still lives comprised of simple objects from her everyday life, such as shoes, cups and spoons. Her abstract shapes appear to be alive due to their brilliant colors and they way that the shapes seem to be thrusting out from the wall into the third dimension. ... Murray's work falls within a long tradition of painted still life's, but exhibits a creativity and energy that is unique. Her style is playful and easily recognizable. She often notes the parallels between painting and play." Source: cmom.org.

"One of Murray's newest works is also the largest and most ambitious of her career -- a 120- foot mosaic mural that graces the mezzanine of a subway station in midtown New York City. The mural depicts a richly-colored fantasy of sunbursts, coffee cups and serpentine tree branches. "I had this vision of people getting up really early, half in a dream state, putting on their clothes, drinking a cup of coffee and getting on the subway to go to work," [said the artist]." Source: usinfo.org.