"METROPOLITAN FACES" - 57th Street Subway Station, F Train Subway, MTA, USA
in collaboration with Alex Katz
Client: MTA Arts in Transit
Architect: MTA New York City Transit
Photo credits: Etienne Frossard
Technique: Airbrushed and hand-painted enamels applied to safety glass.
DESCRIPTION: In "Metropolitan Faces", Alex Katz incorporates his iconic brightly colored and engaging portraits and flowers into the mezzanine level of the 5th Street Station. A New Yorker for over 90 years, Katz has developed a signature painting style that captures his subjects with minimal yet precise brishstrokes.. The latge painted glass panels fill the passageway with light and color through the faces that reflect those of commuters. His lush floral compositions are nod to nearby Central Park. The station Mezzanine, constructed in the late 1960‘s and designed to meld with adjacent development, provides a perfect opportunity for the series of paintings to be installed within the cast stone panels that line the station.
"I was very impressed with the samples I received from Peters Studios. I thought the actual painting technique was amazing. It created an object that was different than painting and it wasn’t like a reproduction- it was the thing itself. To do it in that complicated technique of different baking and reversal painting is inconceivable for me. I think they’re just a great Studio."
- Alex Katz, Artist
"Peters went beyond the best professional practices to achieve what the artist wanted. They put all the resources available into the understanding of the artist's process, developing a method to arrive at the desired effect. I feel the work produced is of the highest fidelity to Alex Katz's process.”
- Juan Gomez