Life Underground
| Life Underground | |
|---|---|
| Artist | Tom Otterness |
| Year | 2001 |
| Type | Bronze |
| Dimensions | 30 cm (12 in) |
| Location |
14th Street – Eighth Avenue New York City Subway station (A C E L trains), New York City |
 "Life Underground" by Tom Otterness, Metropolitan Transportation Authority; January 13, 2010; 2:34 YouTube video clip |
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Tom Otterness: Subway Installations, 2:45 The New York Times video clip |
Life Underground (2001) is a permanent public artwork created by American sculptor Tom Otterness for the 14th Street – Eighth Avenue station (A C E L trains) of the New York City Subway. It was commissioned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Arts for Transit program for US$200,000 — one percent of the station's reconstruction budget. This program has commissioned more than 170 permanent works of art for public transportation facilities the MTA owns and operates. This work is one of the most popular artworks in the subway system.
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, which are dispersed throughout the station platforms 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.” Art critic Olympia Lambert wrote that "the lovable bronze characters installed there are joined together by a common theme of implied criminality mixed with an undercurrent of social anarchy," but labeled them as "too cute", saying that this "undercuts the work's more critical edge." Many of the figures have moneybag heads, and Otterness credits 19th century political cartoonist Thomas Nast's depiction of Boss Tweed and the corruption of Tammany Hall that was ongoing at the time of the subway's initial construction as his inspiration for these.
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Wikipedia