Comments (0) Best Restored Subway Art - 2010
Masstransiscope
Riding in the subway usually necessitates avoiding strangers' gazes, but a certain westward interborough journey will give you something else to do. Inside the tunnel of the line going through Fort Greene to the Lower East Side, you'll see a series of 228 painted panels (each 60 inches by 30 inches) known as Masstransiscope. Artist Bill Brand finished this piece back in 1980 to "turn the subway into a movie machine." Going past the succession of panels makes it feel like you're seeing an evolving animation of plants, landscapes, playing cards, exploding suns, and rocket ships. Brand had wanted to clean up and de-graffiti the work, and finally got the chance to do so in 2008 thanks to a foundation grant. The long-term prospects for his work are also secure, because the MTA Arts for Transit program has brought the piece into its permanent collection. Seen from the B and Q trains from DeKalb Avenue going to Manhattan
