The Arts in New York City

In search of alluring or thought-provoking artworks to delight in? Look no further than the transit system from which you use to traverse to museums in order to find such creativity and ingenuity. One station in particular houses its own remarkable collection, the 8th Avenue station where the L and the A/C/E trains meet. The artisan behind the life of each inanimate being goes by the name of Tom Otterness. He effectively colors the routine momentum of our lives between lives as we venture from one place to the next.
Stepping off the L train and onto the platform, one can immediately locate a number of Otterness’ work. The medium from which he chooses to express his imagination comes in the form of small cartoon figures with spherical heads, two dots for eyes, and four chubby digits on the hands and feet. They are as smooth as marbles and shine like polished bronze. Sitting on the bench, the first thing I observe is a rattlesnake spiraling up from the dingy platform floor. It has two circles with a dot in each as eyes and on its smooth round head it wears a rather fine top hat. Its mouth is open and its tongue is sticking out as if choking. Then one notices the chain on its neck extending to the ground where it is held by a tiny bronze man no bigger than the size of the snake’s head. Looking into the barrel the snake’s spiraling creates, one finds a little man wearing a train conductor’s hat. The miserable snake is pitiful- chained and choking, trapped in a corner between two grungy pillars made of white bathroom tiles. On the other corner created by the two pillars, a stuffed animal sized woman wears the same expression as that of the snake- mouth agape with tongue sticking out. However, the reason for her shocking contortion is quite obvious. She lays on her stomach, her back and neck arching backwards as a massive hinge from some giant machinery crushes the last breath from her.
Between the next two pillars, a suited gentleman with a bowtie and top hat holds one end of a saw while his wife in an elegant gown and pearly earrings holds the other end. On the same platform, one can find an odd squiggly being with a man’s head at each end. In their hands they hold giant pennies, dices, and playing cards. Heading towards the A/C/E platform, one passes by a couple crawling beneath the black bars that separate the two sides of the turnstiles, another couple drunk and partying with horns, and two beggar-women holding a hammer.
The A/C/E platform has even stranger characters. There is a police officer standing over a beggar woman clutching her head and her possessions and one can just imagine him tapping his foot impatiently. An angry phone-like beast eats a man in a suit and a little above the scene hovers a mechanical fly with legs like that of Spiderman’s Dr. Octopus. In a formiddable death grip, it cages a man with a bag of money for a head.
There are so many notable personalities in this underground museum that catch one’s eye. However, the suit, bowtie, and smart hat on such round innocent figures all seem to connect in order to tell a story. Otterness efficiently gains the attention of observers and also tries to tell something about the damaging effects of industrialization and indulgence in money to a busy member of this fast-paced world.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 9th, 2007 at 8:28 pm and is filed under Bonny Lin, WRITING ASSIGNMENTS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.