Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)

tags: Grand Central Station, 42nd Street, Fast Track and Speedwheels, subway art, NYC through my eye, photography, NYC

Dan Sinclair's Fast Track and Speedwheels are assemblages crafted from bright metallic sections that include wavy aluminum sheets, steel wheels, brass disks, copper springs and wires. Installed within a long passageway between the subway and Grand Central Terminal above, they interpret the speed, energy and train travel imagery into a series of relief sculptures. The art-deco shapes and various turning wheels, spinning gears and pistons add to the aura of the location, below one of America's premiere rail stations. "I want my sculpture to make people think of the power of the engines that drive the trains, my sculpture to make people think of the power of the engines that drive the trains, the speed and efficiency of them . . . the sculptures also reflect the architectural elements of Times Square and the Art Deco glamour of Radio City Music Hall," says the artist.

I have photographed glass tile mosaic artworks from several NYC subway stations now, so far, all are westside Manhattan subway lines; including the Christopher Street/Sheridan Square platform, Cathedral Parkway/110th Street platform (downtown-bound 1 train only); the mezzanine walls of the 42nd Street (Times Square) for the A, C and E trains; 42nd street/Times Square upstairs platform (1, 2 & 3 trains); 42nd Street/Times Square passageway between the 8th Avenue/Port Authority Bus Terminal (A, C, & E trains) and the 7th Avenue/Broadway (1, 2, & 3 trains) platforms; West 66th street/Lincoln Center Station (1 train); West 34th Street/Pennsylvania Station (A, C & E trains); Chambers Street (A & C trains); Houston Street (1 train); and Pennsylvania "Penn" station (1, 2 & 3 trains) [subway art archives] and, my favorite subway station of all, the American Museum of Natural History station at 81st and Central Park West (B & C trains) [AMNH archives].