Pleasantville (Harlem)

Almost Home

Kane Do and Jane Greengold
Artwork in cast bronze by Kane Do and Jane Greengold showing 22 sculptural chairs in groupings throughout the station.
“Almost Home” (2002) by Kane Do and Jane Greengold at Pleasantville. Photo: MTA Arts & Design

About the project

Twenty-two cast bronze sculptural chairs greet those who use the Pleasantville Station. The pieces represent different types of seating and a variety of domestic décor. They are arranged in groupings throughout the station overpass and waiting area. The artists who created “Almost Home,” Kane Do and Jane Greengold, explain: “In this suburb of New York City, we have re-created, in bronze, chairs likely to be found in the homes of the commuters who use the station, bringing some of the comforts of home out to meet the riders, making the station almost like home, and reminding riders that they, too, are almost home. Because the chairs look so life-like, so much like wood and upholstery fabric, they create a humorous, trompe l'oeil effect." To complete the domestic setting, nearby is a bronze replica of a copy of "Reader's Digest," which was published in Pleasantville for most of the magazine’s history. 

About the artists

Kane Do is a conceptual artist based in Berlin. Do holds an MFA from Universität der Künste and a BA from Reed College. Do’s practice spans sculpture, ceramics, glassblowing, installation, and other mixed media projects which are, above all, woven together through vision and exploration of thought. 

Jane Greengold creates visual art in a wide variety of media, both studio work and public commissions. Her conceptual public projects are mostly site-specific and intended to provide a sense of place. She has created permanent public installations and temporary projects for the Brooklyn Bridge and Grand Central Terminal. For many years she has done an annual Halloween installation of 100 individually carved pumpkins impaled on a sharply pointed fence in Cobble Hill Brooklyn. In addition to public art projects, Greengold continues to make abstract paintings on paper, and abstract and representational work on modules, such as rolling pins, that can be manipulated by the viewer. Greengold also maintains a parallel career as a public interest lawyer.