Deep Station was inspired by a number of subway stations in New York as well as the Roman Forum and is the last in a series of subway sculptures, which began in 1973. For me 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,” as far down as you can get, hence all the columns and rivets holding up enormous weight. I think of the track area as a kind of subterranean river and the platform as a kind of ancient city on the banks of that river. As the river-track with its arched ceiling crosses over the platform area 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 in 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