The Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced that under the MTA Arts for Transit program, more than a dozen NYC Transit station rehabilitation projects in the Bronx along the 2, 4, and 5 lines included the installation of permanent art.

The artwork consists of faceted glass panels on platforms, mezzanines, and stairways where light pour s through, adding vibrant color and vivid images to the stations. Art is now blossoming throughout the borough, where it is seen by millions of travelers each day.

"The Bronx is family-oriented and the neighborhoods that surround the train stations have very strong cultural identities and unique characteristics. The neighborhood energy—and its beauty—inspired the artists and it shows in the work they produced", said Elliot Sander, MTA Executive Director/CEO.

Each artist each brought his or her unique vision to the work and was inspired by the borough’s landscape, flowers, birds, and the spirit of its people and neighborhoods. Some of the artists are Bronx residents or natives.

At the Nereid Avenue station riders can see a beautiful profusion of leaves and flowers that references nearby community gardens and which competes with the New York Botanical Gardens’ flora for color and variety in work by Noel Copeland. At 233rd Street, Skowmon Hastanan created a sanctuary of luminous waterscapes of sparkling koi fish swimming in a pond of lilies. And at Bronx Park East, the majesty of local birds is seen soaring against crisp blue skies in a work by artist Candida Alvarez.

Public art celebrates the place in which it is located, as at 170th Street , where Dina Bursztyn’s colorful renditions of the neighborhood as seen from above stream through the bright glass panels. Dramatic cityscapes crackle with energy and light at 225th Street in pieces by Nicky Enright. At Fordham Avenue, artist Moses Ros’ figures dance around the platform against backgrounds that show the wares for sale on the street below.

At the Allerton Avenue station, Michele Brody uses the subway map to create colorful ribbons of color in an abstraction of the subway lines that serve the Bronx. At Burke Avenue, work by Béatrice Coron celebrates the borough’s literary heritage and its famous authors.

   Juan Sánchez,176th Street (left); Dina Bursztyn, 170th Street (center); Amir Bey, Mount Eden Avenue (right)  

The artwork also speaks to the people who use the subway and live in the community. At Gun Hill Road, (artist Andrea Arroyo) floating figures in both cool and warm colors hover magically above the platform. The faces of residents and neighbors, created by Amir Bey, shine through at Mount Eden Avenue, and at Woodlawn, Josie Gonzalez Albright’s scenes of children at play evoke games of hopscotch and happy times.

At Freeman Street, an affectionate portrayal of a day in the life of the neighborhood is lovingly rendered by Daniel Hauben, while at 219th Street silhouetted figures by Joseph D’Alesandro are dancing in the platform windscreens. At 176th Street work by Juan Sánchez celebrates community and literally reaches out to viewers, with its oversized hands rendered in the artist’s lyrical collage style.

The material used in the platform windscreens and other windows is faceted glass, a thick and expressive material. Skillful fabrication by artisans provides an interpretation that brings light, color and creativity to the stations. The MTA’s public art selection process includes arts professionals from the community where the station is located. The result is a diversity of art projects that reflect both neighborhood concerns and local imagery and cultures.

In the best tradition of public art, the community is presented with art that grows richer and more familiar upon subsequent viewings.

Station renovations by MTA New York City Transit’s are funded by the MTA Capital Program.

Arts for Transit encourages the use of public transit by presenting visual and performing arts projects in MTA NYC Transit subway and MTA Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North rail stations. For more information, see mta.info.