“Every public artwork was also an educational experience. A child that never walked into a museum or never walked into an art gallery, they just walked around the streets of New York, they would be exposed to art and education and culture just by being in New York. And that’s where New York came from and what made New York special.” – Governor Andrew Cuomo on the 2nd Avenue subway art series.
Welcome to the new 2nd Avenue Subway which not only offers easy access to new cuisines and tastes but a wealth of unexpected visual experiences. This underground art gallery offers a peek into the incredible diversity and beauty of New York City with works by Vik Muniz, Chuck Close, and Sarah Sze.
72nd Street Subway Art: Vik Muniz
The 72nd Street station showcases the work of Vik Muniz. Born in Brazil and based in New York City, the artist photographed more than three dozen people as inspiration for each of the characters portrayed by the mosaics in the work titled, Perfect Strangers. Each tiled piece features a diverse range of people, from a father and daughter holding bunches of balloons, to a couple hands joined together, to a man in a tiger mascot costume, all waiting for the train.
86th Street Subway Art: Chuck Close
The 86th Street station presents artwork by Chuck Close, in the form of 10 large-scale mosaic portraits based on his own portrait paintings and prints from his Subway Portraits series. The 10 intricately crafted pieces feature two self portraits of Close himself, the iconic musician Lou Reed, artist and filmmaker Kara Walker, painter and performance artist Zhang Huan, British Painter Cecily Brown, composer Philip Glass, artist Alex Katz, and Close’s wife Sienna Shields. Close received the National Medal of Arts from President Bill Clinton and served on the Committee on the Arts and Humanities under President Barack Obama.
96th Street Subway Art: Sarah Sze
The 96th Street station features a 14,000 foot mosaic by artist Sarah Sze called Blueprint for a Landscape. Using 4,300 unique tiles, Sze details a blueprint blue background scene with birds, foliage, and scaffolding in a stunning display.
Through the MTA Arts & Design program, almost 300 works of art peppered throughout the New York City subway system are seen by more than 4 million riders every day. With applications open for new artist submissions for 2017, we’re excited to see the addition of these new pieces to our underground art gallery.
Natasha Shapiro is a New York City based outdoor lifestyle photographer. With a perpetual need to explore, she spent most of her childhood hiking and climbing through the beautiful Adirondack Mountains of New York with a camera in hand. What started as play time in the woods became a lifelong passion for adventure! When she’s not out in the woods she can be found curled up with a cup of coffee, a good book, and her Beagle, Moo. Find her instagram at @tashashapiro.
Sarah Knapp is a Brooklyn based entrepreneur whose love for the outdoors and community building led her to the October 2013 creation of OutdoorFest. She has a BA in History, is a Wilderness First Responder and a NY state hiking, camp and boating guide. Her proudest achievement to date is reading the Aeneid in Latin. 
Allison was one of our first top writers and Chief Editor but is no longer working with offMetro. Allison is a native New Yorker, who has lived in Rome, Tuscany, Melbourne, Toronto and Los Angeles. She frequently contributed travel pieces to Family Travel Forum, using her own children as guinea pigs as they travel the globe. She never missed a chance to sample local delicacies, as her love for travel goes hand-in-hand with her love for food and wine. 
Josh Laskin is a freelance travel writer and photographer based in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. When he is not at work or on the road, you can find him in the mountains snowboarding, climbing, hiking, fly fishing, mountain biking, and eating bagel bites.
Annie is a travel writer, environmentalist, and surfer based in Venice, CA. She heads up our West Coast team, keeps our grammatical errors in check, and makes sure our California writers always have a plan for their next adventure. Follow Annie’s travels @annelisemcb.
Carly Pifer is a freelance writer who has been known to follow whims inspired by romantic movie scenes or colorful street style shots to India, Japan, Tunisia and Argentina. After stints living in Seoul, Boston, Paris and Los Angeles, writing and searching for something intangible, she landed somewhat steadily in Brooklyn and has begun to find inspiration in her more immediate surroundings. 
Kate E. O’Hara is a New York based freelance writer and photographer who loves all things food—especially the people who make it and market it. Her writing aims to capture the essence of the food experience; the stories that go well beyond a plate of ingredients. In addition to her love of food, Kate is also known to have a hankering for red wine and craft beer. You can also find Kate on Instagram