The subway

This is one of my many views and experiences of the subway. It used to be just an imagination and appreciation of George Tooker’s “THE SUBWAY”, an oil painting on canvas. This painting gave me an impression of loneliness and excessive masculinity in “the subway”; the angularity of lines, thick and erect pillars and prison-like metal bars, all seem to trigger the idea of entrapment in his painting. People appear to look and move in different directions, minding their own business, and there seem to be more men than women.

Similar atmosphere seems to be presented in this randomly taken photo of the subway. This time, not a painting but a photo taken at the spot. Does that suggest that the subway could be a place of quiet amidst so much noise from both the movement of trains and people? Could it be that there are certain times that the subway is really quiet and a bit scary?

The subway from this point probably gives a different out look of the fast movement of people and train, because it manages such a large number of moving people and this could be testified by choked trains at certain times.

One could begin to think if the scene in the subway does not emphasize the "fast life, who cares for who". Whether few or many people, the fast life still reigns, and everyone seems to mind his own business.