200 West 254th Street


Dennis Oppenheim
Rising and Setting Neighborhood, 2006
Perforated painted steel
sculpture on station grounds
MTA Arts for Transit

 

As one approaches the Riverdale Station, four colorful metal sculpture houses jut out of the mass of trees where the station is located. Bright bursts of yellow, orange and blue reach up out of the dense foliage and seem to be ascending and descending in the same way the sun rises and sets. 

The artist Dennis Oppenheim explains: "This work evokes the daily cycle of commuters, those who leave in the morning and return at night. Instead of the sun rising and setting, the neighborhood itself is shown engaging in a similar movement from the bright, early morning to the dark, late evening." For many commuters, this low-relief outdoor sculpture reminds them that they leave their homes when the sun rises and return when it sets.


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