Life Underground Explained

Life Underground
Year:2001
Height Imperial:12
Inch:Typically 10-12-->
Museum:
New York City Subway station

Life Underground (2001) is a permanent public artwork created by American sculptor Tom Otterness for the New York City Subway's 14th Street/Eighth Avenue station, which serves the . It was commissioned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Arts for Transit program for US$200,000, one percent of the station's renovation budget.[1] This program has commissioned permanent works of art for public transportation facilities the MTA owns and operates.[2] This work is one of the most popular artworks in the subway system.[3]

Description and history

The installation is a series of whimsical miniature bronze sculptures depicting cartoon like characters showing people and animals[4] 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"[1] and describes the arrangement of the individual pieces as being “scattered in little surprises.”[5] 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."[6] 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.[7] [8]

One of the larger pieces depicts a sewer alligator, as described by reporter Michael Rundle: "There is a bronze alligator on the Eighth Avenue and 14th Street subway platform, wearing a suit and tie. A 10inches-high bronze man — also wearing a suit and tie — is struggling to escape his powerful jaws. Watching the scene, aside from throngs of L train riders, is another 10inches figure. He stands beside his stricken friend, hands clasped behind his back, as if to say: 'I told you not to get so close'.” Otterness' sculpture has been praised for its appeal to all ages.[9] The New York Times published a 2003 account describing the interaction of a 4-year-old boy with the sewer alligator. After jumping on the alligator's head and trying to wrestle the little man from his bronze jaws, the observer notes that the boy, "about to give up, he kicked the alligator, his foot connecting solidly with the bronze head. Surprise spread across his face as he ran away, crying, 'Mom, it tried to bite me!'."[10]

Otterness had originally been contracted to sculpt 20 bronze figures, which were to have been installed in 1998.[11] Otterness became so obsessed with this project, that he delivered more than four times the amount of artwork he was originally commissioned to produce.[12] His wife finally made him end expansion of the collection by imploring him to stop "giving away our daughter's whole inheritance".[7] The complete series encompasses more than 100 individual pieces.[13] Some of the individual pieces were put on public display in 1996 on the southeast corner of Central Park at Grand Army Plaza,[14] [15] and then in Battery Park City in Lower Manhattan in 1997,[16] to get public reaction prior to its installation, which was originally scheduled for 1998. Approximately 25 of the pieces were finally installed at the end of 2000.[17] [18] with the balance installed in the following years. The entire project took 10 years from commissioning to the final completion of the installation.[19]

Partial list of item descriptions

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: New York Writ Small;Sassy Sculpture Casts Whimsical Cityscape in Bronze . May 11, 1996 . October 22, 2007 . Fisher . Ian . The New York Times . October 5, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221005013935/https://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/11/nyregion/new-york-writ-small-sassy-sculpture-casts-whimsical-cityscape-in-bronze.html . live .
  2. Web site: Admiring art while waiting for the next train . October 22, 2007 . Dunlap . David W. . January 24, 2007 . International Herald Tribune. . April 4, 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070404070300/http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/24/news/sculpt.php . live .
  3. Web site: Access to Art With a MetroCard Swipe . June 30, 2005 . October 22, 2007 . Chan . Sewell . The New York Times . October 15, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121015052550/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04EED91431F933A05755C0A9639C8B63 . live .
  4. Book: Wolfe . New York, 15 walking tours: an architectural guide to the metropolis . McGraw-Hill . New York . 2003 . 315 . 0-07-141185-2.
  5. Web site: Underground Treasures: New York City's Subway Art . October 24, 2007 . January 2005 . Fredman . Catherine . 360 e-zine . . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20061231192635/http://www.steelcase.com/Files/bf4b22923c544b70813e8338a80ba0f1%282%29.pdf . December 31, 2006.
  6. Web site: Tom Otterness at Marlborough Gallery . October 26, 2007 . October 23, 2007 . Lambert . Olympia . ArtCal Zine . July 6, 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080706125004/http://zine.artcal.net/2007/10/tom-otterness-at-marlborough.php . live .
  7. Web site: Artist figures it's all about engaging the public . October 22, 2007 . October 17, 2007 . Rosenstock . Bonnie . The Villager . October 22, 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20071022050906/http://www.thevillager.com/villager_233/artistfiguresitsall.html . live .
  8. Web site: The Art Underground . October 27, 2007 . June 7, 2005 . Cueto . Cathleen II . Tracts . . January 28, 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130128054733/http://www.notfortourists.com/Features.aspx?city=ny&id=236 . live .
  9. Web site: Marlborough Gallery makes room for Otterness-size shows . October 27, 2007 . Murg . Stephanie . Chelsea Now . Community Media . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080821220008/http://chelseanow.com/cn_55/marlborrough.html . August 21, 2008.
  10. Web site: Metropolitan Diary . October 27, 2007 . May 12, 2003 . Passoni . Tara . Rogers . Joe . . October 5, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221005013936/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/12/nyregion/metropolitan-diary-654191.html . live .
  11. News: Cembalest . Robin . 1997-09-21 . Art; Public Sculpture the Public Likes. Really. . en-US . The New York Times . 2023-04-30 . 0362-4331.
  12. Web site: For public artist, 'life is good' : Tom Otterness can be seen at new gallery show, or in the subway system . October 22, 2007 . October 22, 2007 . Rundle . Michael . . https://web.archive.org/web/20071025054014/http://ny.metro.us/metro/local/article/For_public_artist_life_is_good/10422.html . October 25, 2007 . dead.
  13. Web site: Otterness: Private studio of the very public artist . October 4, 2007 . October 22, 2007 . Johnston . Lauren . . October 11, 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20071011102546/http://www.amny.com/news/local/am-otterness1005,0,2985890.story . live .
  14. Web site: Sculpture That Basks in Summer . October 22, 2007 . August 9, 1996 . Cotter . Holland . The New York Times.
  15. News: de Pommereau . Isabelle . 25 July 1996 . Sculpted Subway Scenes Elicit Chuckles, Insights From Passersby . 11 . The Christian Science Monitor . .
  16. Web site: Tom Otterness (American), 1952: Featured artist works, exhibitions and biography from Vered Gallery . October 26, 2007 . May 25, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110525072705/http://www.artnet.com/Galleries/Artists_detail.asp?gid=1087&aid=12935 . live .
  17. Web site: F.Y.I. . October 26, 2007 . August 31, 2003 . Fox . George . Robinson . . October 5, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221005013937/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/31/nyregion/fyi-112917.html . live .
  18. Web site: Inside Art . Vogel . Carol . March 2, 2001 . October 26, 2007 . The New York Times.
  19. Web site: The AI Interview: Tom Otterness . October 24, 2007 . September 27, 2006 . . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110724110831/http://tomotterness.net/pdf/news_artinfo_200610.pdf . July 24, 2011.
  20. Web site: NYCT Permanent Art : 14th Street/Eight Avenue, Tom Otterness, Life Underground, 2001 . MTA – Arts for Transit . July 20, 2016 . August 16, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160816174702/http://web.mta.info/mta/aft/permanentart/permart.html?agency=nyct&line=L&station=9&xdev=741 . live .
  21. Web site: Tom Otterness: Public Art and the Civic Ideal in the Postmodern Age . Carducci . Vince . October 26, 2007 . April 2005 . Sculpture.org . December 31, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171231212005/http://www.sculpture.org/documents/scmag05/april_05/otterness/otterness.shtml . live .

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