Arts for Transit and Urban Design

34th Street-Herald Square

Nicholas Pearson

Halo, 1991

Hand-coiled aluminum spheres in atrium space at south end of station

In the 34th Street-Herald Square subway station riders are met by large, luminous orbs that seem to hover in space. Made of coiled aluminum rods - formed in a manner similar to the way in which ceramicists build pots from clay - the spheres are suspended on a framework of small beams from the larger steel structural components of the station. Halo contrasts the aesthetic with the utilitarian and the result is "an unexpected serenity." The artist say, "It was my aim to create an enigmatic distribution of objects that would stand in sharp contrast to the rectilinear nature of the site, and in doing so, to establish an oasis of visual language amid an otherwise functional environment."