ΝΕΑ ΥΟΡΚΗ. ΕΝΑ ΓΚΕΪ ΖΕΥΓΑΡΙ ΣΤΟ ΣΤΑΘΜΟ ΤΟΥ ΜΕΤΡΟ

New York City's Second Avenue Subway is a wonderland of public art

Rush hour has never been so culturally enriching.

Spread out across the station’s platforms and entrances, Muniz’s rather perfect “Perfect Strangers” is made up of a motley crew of three-dozen life-sized characters who are waiting for the train to arrive — some more patiently than others. These faces wear the expressions of New York City subway riders: distracted, bored, bemused, bedraggled, annoyed, impatient, indifferent.

These colorful everyday “real” New Yorkers — in actuality, the highly detailed mosaics are based on staged portraits of Muniz’s New York-dwelling friends who agreed to play dress up and pose — come in all shapes and sizes and colors: a subway saxophonist, an off-duty furry  in a tiger costume, a child grasping for a balloon, a popsicle-wielding cop and a hand-holding gay couple.

The latter mosaic, depicting husbands Thor Stockman and Patrick Kellogg, is believed to be the first permanent, non-political LGBT artwork in New York City. “They are just people you would expect to see," Muniz, a lauded multimedia artist best known for socially conscious works that incorporate rubbish plucked from the sprawling landfills of Rio de Janeiro, explains to the AP. "You would expect to see men holding hands." (mnn.com, 2/1/2016)