MTA Arts & Design

125th Street

Valerie Maynard

Polyrhythmics of Consciousness and Light, 2003

Glass mosaic on mezzanine walls and above stairs

Valerie Maynard's Polyrhythmics of Consciousness and Light was commissioned as part of a phase of renovation of the station that followed earlier work and the installation of Open Secret by Houston Conwill. Maynard's work consists of glass mosaic murals along mezzanine and stairway walls that bring layers of pattern and color to an abstracted geometric field. Against the backgrounds are figural representations of musicians and others in joyful postures. Maynard's images, in her words, "capture the boundless energy, the beacon of light that was and is our own homegrown Mecca: the Harlem of our dreams, our imaginings and our reality. Maynard dedicates the work above the stairwells to artists, in recognition of their "flights of creativity."