New Utrecht Av (N)

Nature Wall

Andrea Dezsö
Artwork in glass and ceramic mosaic by Andrea Dezsö showing plants and animals in bright colors.
"Nature Wall" (2019) © Andrea Dezsö, NYCT New Utrecht Av Station. Photo: Etienne Frossard

About the project

Andrea Dezsö's "Nature Wall" features 14 glass and ceramic mosaic panels, fabricated by Miotto Mosaic Art Studios and placed along the Northbound and Southbound platform walls of the New Utrecht Av station. "Nature Wall" conceptually and aesthetically expands on Dezsö’s nearby metal artwork, "Nature Rail," located along the pedestrian transfer bridge of the adjoining 62nd St station on the D line. Using "Nature Rail"'s characteristic visual elements — specifically, plants and animals surviving on the urban stage — Dezsö composed a cascading set of mosaic murals, re-contextualizing her unique visual iconography and infusing vibrant color onto the station’s platforms. The plant and animal motifs borrowed from "Nature Rail" link the two stations by offering visual continuity, while the different medium of mosaic creates a distinct visual identity for the New Utrecht Av station.  

Speaking about her inspiration for this artwork, Dezsö shared that her "imagination was captured by how wild plants found ways to survive and thrive in this very urban area. From abandoned lots to areas between buildings, nature found ways to grow alongside construction sites, structures of steel and concrete, even in potholes. It made me smile every time I saw an uninvited, un-nurtured plant surviving entirely on its own on the urban stage." She envisions her artwork as a celebration of this "urban thriving."

About the artist

Andrea Dezsö is a visual artist who works across a broad range of media including drawing, painting, artist's books, embroidery, cut paper, animation, sculpture, site-specific installation, and public art. Born and raised in Communist Romania, Dezsö was restricted from traveling, and thus took to traveling through her imagination and the world of books, lending a fantastical element to much of her work. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Art at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, and has exhibited work in museums and galleries around the world.