Central Subway Blog

Congratulations to the 19 prominent national and local artists and artists teams competing for the Central Subway Public Art Program. Proposals for two permanent public artwork opportunities each at the Chinatown, Union Square/Market Street and Moscone Stations will be on view at the Chinese Culture Center, Contemporary Jewish Museum and Weinstein Gallery from July 9 through July 16.

For the Chinatown Station landmark artwork, artist Ming Fay developed a proposal of a large colorful glass mosaic that draws inspiration from the evergreen pine forests of California and the Gold Mountains in the Bay Area. Yu Mei Hou’s landmark design proposal incorporates traditional Chinese paper cut art based on traditional Chinese folk tales, and May Sun’s proposal consists of a large wall artwork incorporating both archival and current photographs of Chinatown, with insets in the adjacent floor area. For the wayfinding artwork, Carl Cheng’s proposal will take transit riders on a walk through an underground Chinese garden. Using architectural glass elements, Tomie Arai will create a site-specific visual narrative about the history of the area surrounding the subway station. As riders move through the different layers of the station, they will be able to experience this narrative in much the same way as an archeologist might sift through layers of history to uncover the past. Yunfei Ji’s wayfinding proposal is based on the Chinese hand scroll that will weave its way through the station telling the story of Chinese-American’s participation in the building of America. Lastly, Faye Zhang proposes a series of mosaics on several level that reference moving water, as passengers move through the station.

At the Union Square/Market Street Station the candidates for the landmark artwork include Brian Goggin whose design consists of a glittering canopy of metal and glass inspired by the sand dunes that once were in the Union Square location. Ilya and Emilia Kabakov’s landmark proposal children gazing down at a hidden world located somewhere below the floor. The final candidate for the Union Square/Market Street Station landmark artwork is Erwin Redl. Inspired by the famous Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” Redl proposes a ceiling grid of hanging 10” x 10” “light pixels” with shifting colors in a diamond shape pattern. For the wayfinding artwork, Michael Davis and Susan Schwartzenberg’s proposal includes overhead lighting with imagery of large-scale historic gatherings in Union Square and a series of artifacts imbedded in the walls that reveal little known historical stories from the downtown area. Keith Godard’s proposes floor mosaics depicting historic bird’s eye views of Union Square beginning in 1776 and continuing to the present day. The artist team Jim Campbell and Werner Klotz propose to create an undulating three-dimensional ribbon that spans the length of two station levels.

For the Moscone Station landmark artwork Brian Tolle’s proposal draws a parallel between the ebb and flow of passengers in the train stations and San Francisco’s famous fog. Using state of the art technologies, he will create molded panels that depict single moments of a surface seemingly in motion. Joyce Hsu’s landmark proposal combines concepts based on San Francisco’s estuarine system as a bird refuge with mankind’s drive to look towards the sky for better mobility. Her design presents commuters with a flock of jet-packed flying devices with bird-like wings against a backdrop of a dreamlike sky. Catherine Wagner’s design incorporates large photographs she took in the late 70s documenting the construction of Moscone Center. For the wayfinding artwork, Tom Otterness has proposed a series of humorous sculptural vignettes featuring his signature bronze characters as transit riders place throughout the station. Mildred Howard’s wayfinding artwork proposal consists of laminated glass panels featuring archival images that appear and disappear as passengers walk past them and that are intended to take transit-users on a journey through time. Michele Oka Doner is proposing a multi-level series of floor insets, elevator designs, and sculptural elements that reference sunlight and other natural phenomena.

We hope to see you at the public art viewing!

Exhibition Locations and Operating Hours:

Central Subway Public Art Program Manager Judy Moran will be available to answer questions from the public at a Q & A session at each of the three proposal display sites, see below for more details.

Chinatown Station
Chinese Cultural Center
750 Kearny Street
Operating hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Q&A with Project Manager Judy Moran: Saturday, July 10 from noon to 2 p.m. on the Pedestrian Bridge that crosses Kearny Street from Portsmouth Square to the Chinese Culture Center in the Hilton Hotel.

Union Square/Market Street Station
Weinstein Gallery
291 Geary Street, 2nd Floor
Operating hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily
Q&A with Project Manager Judy Moran, Monday, July 12 from noon to 2 p.m.

Moscone Station
Contemporary Jewish Museum
736 Mission Street
Operating hours: Monday-Tuesday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Wednesday, closed; Thursday, 1-8 p.m.; Friday-Sunday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Q&A with Project Manager Judy Moran: Tuesday, July 13 from noon – 2 p.m.

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