MTA Arts & Design

Tremont Avenue

Frank Leslie Hampton

Uptown New York, 2000

Glass, stone, and marble mosaic wall on mezzanine

Uptown New York, a colorful, airy celebration of apartment life in the Bronx, is the centerpiece of the Tremont Avenue subway station's renovation. Drawn from his childhood memory, artist Frank Hampton created a tableau taken from the viewpoint of an actual rooftop location. The viewer, looking through a building, sees the neighbors' furniture, the continuing view of nearby rooftops, other apartment buildings, and beyond to the skyscrapers of Manhattan. "I grew up in the Bronx gazing out of apartment windows that look out onto fire escapes, store signs, laundry, and buildings upon buildings," said Hampton. "These have always seemed like mosaics to me, colorful, interacting, and in constant motion. Windows played the role of a yard I didn't have."