Columbus Circle/Turnstyle Underground Market Art
Located on West 59th and Columbus Circle, the station has passageways to the A, C, B, D, and 1 trains. The decals along the wall depict a 13th century ship, a reference to Christopher Columbus' voyage. During my survey, I asked an MTA attendant to guide me to all the art works in the station. She tells me that there used to be an entire passageway of tiled art created by artists and students of all grade levels titled, Hello Columbus (img 3). The work was taken down during the construction of the Underground Market around 2004. I have not encountered much information regarding the teardown, which surprises me because when art is taken down there is some kind of backlash from the public. I see no evidence of that. Perhaps more people have realized the horrific and cruel nature of Christopher Columbus and the teardown of this piece was welcomed.
The colorful wall tile (img 4) was created by Sol Lewitt and installed in 2007. Whirls and Twirls is located in a busy part of the station and is hard to miss as the porcelain tiles cover the wall of a staircase to the Downtown 1 train.
Image taken from: https://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/Artwork:_Hello_Columbus_(NYC_Artists_%26_Public_School_Students)
The Underground Market has a more modern feel to its design. Wall signs and arrows are placed around the whole station as wayfinders and in my exploration of the market, I forgot I was in a NYC subway station.
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