Radiant Site: A wall of gold tiles at 34th St Station
The MTA has a pretty extensive art program to bring life to the otherwise dreary underworld of the NYC Subway. Sometimes, the public art is big and in your face and other times it seems to hide in plain sight, like this piece called Radiant Site by artist Michele Oka Doner.
Michele’s work, completed in 1991, consists of 11,000 hand-made gold tiles spanning the entire length of a passenger corridor at 34th St-Herald Square station in NYC (near the ramps leading down to the BDFM platforms). Each tile was made at the historic Pewabic Pottery in Detroit and feature differing levels of gold shine; the darker ones at the tops and bottom and the brightest ones filling the center.
Next time you’re traveling through this station, be sure to look forward and up at this iconic piece!