"The Garden of Circus Delights" is the artist's homage to the circus, which makes annual visits to Madison Square Garden, located above the station, and also connected to the Long Island Rail Road. Eric Fischl's work is narrative and this work follows in this tradition. A series of murals takes commuters from the familiar to the bizarre circus world. "I thought it would be amusing," Fischl says, "to do a contemporary Dante's 'Inferno,' to turn commuting into a spiritual quest." The murals portray fire-breathers, acrobats, and animals; gradually, one realizes that a commuter has left home and been pulled into the circus, where he meets incredible circus characters and then, on the other side of the tent, he emerges in the white light and harmony, a commuter again, but transported and transformed. 

Born in New York City and raised in the suburbs of Long Island, Eric Fischl earned his B.F.A. from the California Institute for the Arts in 1972. Fischl's suburban upbringing informed his artwork depicting the dark, disturbing undercurrents of mainstream American life. Fischl's paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints have been the subject of numerous solo and major group exhibitions. His work is represented in many museums, as well as private and corporate collections, and has been featured in over 1,000 publications. He is also the founder, president and lead curator for the multi-disciplinary exhibition "America: Now and Here." Fischl is a Fellow at both the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Science. He lives and works in Sag Harbor, New York.