The last in a series of subway sculptures begun in 1973, Deep Station was inspired by several subway stations in New York as well as the Roman Forum. As in my previous pieces, the subway is a metaphorical kind of space having to do with a number of aspects of human experience and, of course, the subconscious. Deep Station is meant to be the subway station at the “bottom of the world,” its columns and rivets holding up enormous weight. I think of the track area as a kind of subterranean river and the platform as an ancient city on the riverbank. As the river-track with its arched ceiling crosses over the platform on a diagonal, there is a realignment or a shift (of consciousness) subtly beginning to take place. It is starting in a very small way. The only hint is the way one column in the cluster of columns to the right of the control tower is beginning to align itself with the diagonal of the track. It is just a beginning, but the process will be inexorable. Although the results will not be felt on the surface for some time, the change, like that wrought by tectonic plates shifting deep beneath the surface of the earth, will be profound.

Photo Credit: Peter Mauss/ESTO