“Subway Rider #2”

This is  a composite of individual portraits brought together to capture the mood and feeling of a morning or evening commute. The painting conveys the suspension of time and activity that marks the interlude between the worlds of home and work. Riders are self-absorbed, whether deep in thought, daydreaming or reading the day’s newspaper. There is no social interaction, and yet the prevailing mood is pensive and comfortable. The painting does include juxtapositions between the workday world of the subway riders and the utopia promised by the advertisements above their heads.

Painting by Ralph Fasanella from the collection of the American Folk Art Museum, New York, N.Y.

See the Ralph Fasanella exhibti for more information.