#permanent art

Michele Oka Doner’s "Radiant Site" (1991) at 34 St-Herald Sq (B,D,F,M,N,R,Q,W) station fills a rectilinear passage with golden light. The floor-to-ceiling mural is comprised of 11,000 ceramic tiles made by the artist using a century-old foot-press at Pewabic, one of the oldest continually operating potteries in the country. Their slightly irregular shapes and uneven surfaces were hand-glazed, varying the recipe in tiny increments to achieve the desired luminosity. The midsection of the mural is the brightest, as the copper-toned glazed tiles grow darker and reflect less light along the top and bottom of the passageway, resulting in a gently glowing surface. Doner says that she considers not only the physical and chemical properties of the materials she will use but also "their psychic and cosmic qualities.

In Jason Middlebrook’s "Brooklyn Seeds" (2011) at Av U (B,Q) station, a larger-than-life garden of wildflowers ascends the stairway wall leading from street to platform. The glass mosaic depicts local wildflowers that grow in unlikely places, through cracks in the sidewalk, alleys, and walls, exploring the intersection of the human-made and natural. These flowers, often weeds, include such local specimens as spotted knapweed, burdock, golden rod, aster, milkweed, and daises. Above the plants are airborne seed pods floating away to germinate, on a journey of their own.

Drawing upon childhood memories, Manny Vega’s “Sábado en la Ciento Diez (Saturday on 110th Street)” (1996) at 110 St (6) station captures the joyous, colorful atmosphere of la ciento diez. The four mosaic panels—“Earth,” “Air,” “Fire,” and “Water”—depict scenes one would expect to find in the East Harlem neighborhood. In “Earth,” a street vendor sells bananas, plantains, papayas, avocados, and coconuts. “Air” illustrates a typical summer-in-the-city activity: children playing under the spray of a fire hydrant while a piraguero shaves a block of ice to make tropical fruit-flavored snow cones of guava, papaya, mango, and tamarindo. Shangó - a deity from the Yoruba pantheon - embodies Harlem's West African roots in “Fire,” dancing to the beat of three bata drummers. In “Water,” an elderly woman represents motherhood as she carries a bouquet of flowers and leads a child by the hand from a neighborhood botánica.

Vega’s work is celebrated in “Byzantine Bembé: New York by Manny Vega” at the Museum of the City of New York. On view through December, the exhibition highlights the artist’s unique style, dubbed “Byzantine Hip-Hop,” as well as his dedication to sharing stories of community and the diasporic experience.

April showers bring May flowers! Embrace the Spring season with our new exhibition on Bloomberg Connects, “Floral Muses.” Flowers, the timeless muse for artists of all media, are the subject of many artworks throughout the transit system. “Floral Muses” features a selection of artworks from our permanent collection which enliven the daily commute with flora year-round.

Images

1: Takayo Noda, “The Habitat for the Yellow Bird” (2007) at Sutter Av (L) station. 📸: Edward Lee

2: Antenna Design (Masamichi Udagawa + Sigi Moeslinger), “Bloemendaal” (2010) at 96 St (1,2,3) station. 📸: Jan Staller

3: Nancy Blum, “Floating Auriculas” (2007) at MNR Dobbs Ferry Station. 📸: MTA A&D

4: Portia Munson, “Gardens of Fort Hamilton Parkway Station” (2012) at Fort Hamilton Pkwy (D) station. 📸: Susan Alzner

Maria Cristalli and Marc Brown’s “The Land Between Two Waters” (2010) at Morrison Av-Soundview (6) station consists of 14 forged steel panels that evoke the nearby rivers and other elements of the landscape, both natural and constructed, associated with the history and evolution of the area. The Soundview neighborhood is located near the point where the Bronx River flows into the East River and was once known as the "Land by the Two Waters" by the native Siwanoy people. With water as a central element, the artists depict a forest of native trees (oak, tulip tree, cottonwood, mountain ash, sweet maple, sassafras, and flowering dogwood) and birds (wild pheasant, osprey, great egret, cedar waxwing, cardinal, and grey catbird). Other panels depict farmland and the contemporary cityscape of homes, bridges, and distant skylines.

“Making Their Mark,” presented by the Shah Garg Foundation and curated by Cecilia Alemani, is a monumental exhibition featuring 80 significant women artists from the last 80 years. Among these notable women are #MTAarts artists Firelei Báez, Faith Ringgold, Sarah Sze, and Elizabeth Murray.

On view in Chelsea through Mar 23, the exhibition “champions the lives and work of women artists, bringing into vibrant relief their intergenerational relationships, formal and material breakthroughs, and historical impact. Through drawings, mixed media works, paintings, sculptures, and textile works, the artists of ‘Making Their Mark’ rechart art history through their singular, iconic practices.” - Shah Garg Foundation

Images

1: Firelei Baez, “Ciguapa Antellana, me llamo sueño de la madrugada (who more sci-fi than us)” (2018) at 163 St-Amsterdam Av (C) station. 📸: Osheen Haruthoonyan

2: Faith Ringgold, “Flying Home: Harlem Heroes and Heroines (Downtown and Uptown)” (1996) at 125 St (2,3) station. 📸: Trent Reeves

3: Sarah Sze, “Blueprint for a Landscape” (2017) at 96 St (Q) station. 📸: Tom Powel

4: Elizabeth Murray, “Blooming” (1996) by Elizabeth Murray at 59 St/Lexington Av-59 St (N,R,W) station. 📸: MTA A&D/Rob Wilson

Priscila De Caravalho’s “Bronx: Heart, Homeland” (2015) at Castle Hill Av (6) station encompasses the interplay of place, home, culture, and identity through silhouetted scenes of the neighborhood stylized with a web of interconnecting lines and patterns. The urban dwellers represented are skateboarding, selling books, walking on the street, and taking pathways to the station. Man-made fragments of the 20th and 21st century of Bronx history are shown, such as the subway line, networks, electricity cables, and telephone poles. In this way, the artwork honors the Bronx’s past, present, and future as well as its dwellers’ connection to both place and each other.

De Carvalho’s new mural “The Sun Also Rises” commissioned by NYC DOT Art is now on view in Jackson Heights in Queens, offering the community a sense of optimism through vibrant color and the sun’s symbolism.