Sunday, May 20, 2012

Mass Transit Public Art

by Robert Boyd

Life Underground by Tom Otterness
Tom Otterness, Life Underground, 2001, bronze

When I was in New York, I saw a pretty delightful (and slightly subversive) piece of public art in the subway stations where the A,C and E lines intersect with the L line. This is Life Underground by Tom Otterness. Instead of being one big piece, it consists of a bunch of little pieces spread throughout the two stations. The subversive aspect is that it features these little top-hatted figures with money-bags for faces who are alternately oppressing other figures (workers and beggars) or being eaten by alligators. The workers are shown building things but also sawing at the I-beams that support the ceilings.

Life Underground by Tom Otterness
Tom Otterness, Life Underground, 2001, bronze

Life Underground by Tom Otterness
Tom Otterness, Life Underground, 2001, bronze

Life Underground by Tom Otterness
Tom Otterness, Life Underground, 2001, bronze

Life Underground by Tom Otterness
Tom Otterness, Life Underground, 2001, bronze

Life Underground by Tom Otterness
Tom Otterness, Life Underground, 2001, bronze

Life Underground by Tom Otterness
Tom Otterness, Life Underground, 2001, bronze

Life Underground by Tom Otterness
Tom Otterness, Life Underground, 2001, bronze

Life Underground by Tom Otterness
Tom Otterness, Life Underground, 2001, bronze

Life Underground by Tom Otterness
Tom Otterness, Life Underground, 2001, bronze

I passed through these stations twice. It's a very busy interchange. But what I noticed was that despite the fact that these little bronze statues are everywhere, people weren't looking at them. Only I, the obvious tourist with a camera, seemed to notice them. And why should everyday commuters notice them--they've seen them hundreds of times. The first few times they might register, but after a while they become part of the background noise.

I think this a problem with transit-oriented art. It's guaranteed to eventually become invisible to the very people it was created for. For example, how many people driving on I-45 through downtown Houston notice the Buffalo Bayou Torches by Paul Kittleson?  I don't know if there is a solution--it may be that this art always exists to be seen the first time you pass it, but not so much every subsequent time.


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2 comments:

  1. Have you ever seen the Tom Otterness sculpture at "Central Park" in The Woodlands? There's a happy couple dancing on a bag of money. He's a pretty surreal choice for a park in a new urbanist shopping center in a middle to upper class suburb.

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