Archetype

In February 1979, I was selected by the Mass Transit Administration of Maryland Arts Panel to conceptualize and develop a permanent photographic mural for the Mondawmin Station of the Baltimore Subway System. Described briefly, the imagery consists of abstracted human faces that are screen printed onto a backlit translucent material known as Panaflex. The material is stretched and mounted onto three 10' X 12' light boxes located above the mezzanine pedestrian level. Titled Archetype,the mural was installed in 1983 at a total cost of $85,000.

The conceptualization stage of my commission actually began before the ground breaking for the station. I was provided with shop drawings and an architect's conception sketch of the subway station space. In order to comprehend scale and relationships of the stations' various design components, I constructed three-dimensional models based on those drawings.

After evaluating all factors, my final design for the project came out of the station itself. I was impressed with the 350' long narrow space, 30' high coffered ceiling, and the vaulting elements along the station walls. These impressions echoed a Gothic cathedral in terms of size, scale, modular play, and the end wall, like an altar, the focal point of the station. I then chose to echo the art form of cathedral stained glass.

Many materials were investigated during the conceptualization stage, each offering exciting possibilities. I adopted the translucent Panaflex as the material for my mural. The selection of this material allowed the implication of an outside light source for the underground station, thus allowing a meaningful interchange between the art and the architecture. As an outdoor advertising material, it is a flexible, translucent polymeric with built-in ultraviolet inhibitors allowing artwork to be viewed transmissively by rear-mounted florescent lamps.

Combining the qualities of stained glass and photosilkscreen, color-fast inks are applied to the surface via a four-color printing process. Once stretched onto light boxes, blunt objects bounce off this drum-tight material and cut holes will not propagate. The material satisfactorily met the concerns for a major permanent piece and provided a logical solution for a distinct design problem.

My constructivist treatment of the overlapping faces enables the subway rider to discover something new and different each time the mural is viewed. Because of recognizable quality and enduring features, I chose the human face for imagery. The faces were generated in the darkroom by means of graphic and photographic processes. Subtractive primaries of cyan, magenta and yellow were assigned to various portions of the faces to produce decided visual effects, a blend of colors and shapes.

The expansion of scale, the application of contemporary materials and the subway space conceptualization in cathedral proportions were all components which determined the scope and nature of a permanent photographic mural, a work which crossed design barriers where it could not be weighed by values of traditional photography.