Subway Wall

1990 Wall Street (2, 3) New York City Transit

Artist Harry Roseman created a bronze wall relief for the Wall St station that respects and highlights the underlying geology of the area while providing an experience for unsuspecting commuters. As he described his work, "[This site] is underground, in the 'earth,' under an urban setting...Rocks are interspersed among tiles. The rocks in this situation could actually have been a part of the excavation process for the subway tunnel, [and they] thus become a symbol for the process of building the tunnel and for being underground. The path and stairs as well as the tiles intermingle nature with the man-made. The built aspect of the stairs also alludes to the built environment, the city. The landscape could be the kind of place that was here before this was an urban center. The curve [of the tunnel] was also the perfect opportunity to twist the perspective of the staircase to reiterate the curve and suggest the going from one type of environment to another."