"SYMPHONIC CONVERGENCE 1 & 2" - Beach 36th Street Subway Station, Rockaway Line, Queens, New York, USA

in collaboration with George Bates

Client: MTA Arts and Design
Architect: MTA New York City Transit
Photo credits: Peter Bartsch

Technique: Multiple layers of hand painting and airbrushing on glass blocks.

Peters Studios brought so much life and beauty to the finished piece that I simply could not have imagined. I was impressed with how they found subtle tones in my original art that were then expertly realized in an aesthetic that went far beyond what I was expecting.

- George Bates, Artist

DESCRIPTION: At Beach 36th Street, George Bates designed a lyrical composition with a bold yet playful spirit that expresses the artist’s feelings about the Rockaways. The piece features glass blocks that bring in light and brighten the station’s stair landings. The design on the southbound side features a spiral formed of people’s heads, rendered in deep blue and heavy line. These are profiles that overlap one another, building up and snowballing into a large element, a community. The northbound side of the station distills the essence of the beachside community with a spirited joyous rendition that achieves its music-like title, with its waves and crescendos of color, pattern, and form.

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