Fossils

1988 137th Street – City College (S) New York City Transit

Steve Wood's artwork consists of 160 eight-by-eight-inch bronze relief tiles (80 each on the uptown and downtown platforms) that have been placed within the platform walls of the station. The tiles portray the fossilized remains of a variety of biological life forms. The artist's intent was to bring to the surface, in a subterranean public space, an exploration of the nature of what is found underground, usually through excavation. "The idea behind Fossils is simple: the subway is underground, fossils are found in the earth," the artist says. "I wanted these reliefs to be 'scattered' over the walls of the northbound and southbound platforms in such a way that both children and adults would see them personally and close-up. They are meant to be looked at, touched, talked about, and remembered."