On Display at Atlantic/Pacific, Brooklyn

Photo by myself in the Atlantic/Pacific subway station in Brooklyn.

A major hub in Brooklyn has been overtaken by a temporary installation by MoMA. Now until March 5, the billboards have been replaced with large scale photographs and reproductions from the Museum of Modern Art's collection.

The Museum hopes to lure Brooklynites over for a visit to see the real stuff.

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Several days ago I posted a a photo of the guerilla graphics that have overtaken the Atlantic/Pacific subway station in a big way. Dozens of steel columns have been covered with bold graphics announcing a forthcoming installation on behalf of MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art.

All the billboards in the sprawling station have been replaced with huge images of artwork. Color photographs have been mounted on lightboxes on the walls. The effect is both subtle and striking.

If you didn't know any better, you wouldn't notice anything different. On closer inspection, you notice that there are no words on images. No catchy slogans, no ad copy, nothing. It's just pure image.

Next to each art piece is the traditional caption showing the artist, name of the piece and creation date. You are in a public museum, of sorts.

Jackson Pollack splatter murals, Cindy Sherman self-portraits and Monet landscapes grace the walls. It's art as advertising, with the message that MoMA is art.

MoMA is Impressionism and Abstract Expressionism and photography. The museum is one-stop shopping, just a subway ride away.



Related posts: Art Underground, the MoMA Way, On Navigating the City and The Subway Platform, 59th Street.