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Edges of a South Brooklyn Sky
2018
Avenue U (N / Sea Beach)
New York City Transit
At the Avenue U station on the Sea Beach line, Brooklyn-based artist Sally Gil created a series of 14 mosaics titled "Edges of a South Brooklyn Sky." Reflecting on the Gravesend neighborhood where the station is located, Gil used her poetic style to interpret and situate recognizable places and objects found throughout the area. Each of the mosaic panels whimsically represents Gravesend its diverse communities, both past and present.
There are seven mosaics on each of the station’s platforms, each containing a roving skyline and depicting familiar structures and things, such as Italian rainbow cookies, a quail egg, a Mexican Concha cookie, railroad tracks, and even the station house at the Avenue U subway entrance. Local architectural structures are placed close to the center line of all 14 mosaics, because, as Gil says, "the horizon line is where the business of living happens." The objects, representing the rich social texture of the multiethnic Gravesend community, float amidst the day and night skies. This is where, as Gil says, "the internal life lives, all the complex and mystifying contemplations that move us." The day and night skies are reversed in form and concept across the platforms, helping to situate daily commuters in time and space, as they leave from and arrive back to the station.
Gil uses painting and mixed media collage to make her artworks. For the Avenue U station, her mixed-media pieces were fabricated in glass mosaic by Mosaicos Venezianos de México. Gil worked closely the mosaicists to replicate small-scale works into the 14 large-scale murals now permanently located along the platforms.
As riders move through "Edges of a South Brooklyn Sky," Gil reminds us that, "every day we are making our place in the world, and the subway is the conduit that transports us. We live on a physical plane, while dwelling in our thoughts and imaginations — the world of our own stories. Ultimately I believe, although from differing places, we all want the same things: To live peacefully, with what we need and want."
There are seven mosaics on each of the station’s platforms, each containing a roving skyline and depicting familiar structures and things, such as Italian rainbow cookies, a quail egg, a Mexican Concha cookie, railroad tracks, and even the station house at the Avenue U subway entrance. Local architectural structures are placed close to the center line of all 14 mosaics, because, as Gil says, "the horizon line is where the business of living happens." The objects, representing the rich social texture of the multiethnic Gravesend community, float amidst the day and night skies. This is where, as Gil says, "the internal life lives, all the complex and mystifying contemplations that move us." The day and night skies are reversed in form and concept across the platforms, helping to situate daily commuters in time and space, as they leave from and arrive back to the station.
Gil uses painting and mixed media collage to make her artworks. For the Avenue U station, her mixed-media pieces were fabricated in glass mosaic by Mosaicos Venezianos de México. Gil worked closely the mosaicists to replicate small-scale works into the 14 large-scale murals now permanently located along the platforms.
As riders move through "Edges of a South Brooklyn Sky," Gil reminds us that, "every day we are making our place in the world, and the subway is the conduit that transports us. We live on a physical plane, while dwelling in our thoughts and imaginations — the world of our own stories. Ultimately I believe, although from differing places, we all want the same things: To live peacefully, with what we need and want."
