Underground Art In Museum For The Masses

by VICTOR ROSS Whoever said "form follows function," must be a Queens commuter riding on the 7, E, F, J, M, and Z subway lines, to and from Manhattan and Brooklyn.
For the past 17 years, Queens subway riders have been treated to a daily viewing of museum-quality art provided by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) Arts For Transit program.
Artwork is placed on stations at the same time that major repairs are made. Funding for the individual station’s art project averages an estimated one percent of the cost of the station’s refurbishment.
Local art connoisseurs traveling from Flushing to Manhattan on the 7 line, are being treated to a series of porcelain enamel, ceramic and glass murals, plus a series of delicate hand-forged railings on six Queens stations, all within 20 minutes of each other.
Riders on the E and F lines are being treated to ceramic and glass mosaic reliefs, and J, M, and Z lines are being treated to glass murals, wire-mesh and aluminum sculptures. In addition, exhibits on the subway system range from bronze sculpture to stained glass windows . . . for a system-wide exhibit of 70 exhibits.
This 13-station network of artwork is no accident, but part of a hard-working program funded by the MTA. After it had begun, Peter Stangl, Chairman of the MTA, said that the program signaled "return to the ideals of the original subway builders — that public spaces are at their best when they are both functional and attractive."
The demands on the artists are high: They must respond to the station’s existing architecture, they must work with durable materials, and they must be sensitive to the communities the station serves. As a result, permanent art has been funded since 1982.
The newest station artwork is the soon-to-open "Happy World," which features more than 2,000 six-inch tiles with smiling faces. The artist, Ik-Joong Kang, says the work celebrates the unity of our society. "Public art," he declared, "should always relate to the public."