Podcast Summary: "New NYC Subway Murals Redefine Geography"

All Of It with Alison Stewart, WNYC — September 10, 2025
Guest: Lisa Corinne Davis, abstract artist and Hunter College professor
Main Theme:
A conversation with artist Lisa Corinne Davis about her new subway mosaic murals at 68th Street–Lexington Avenue station, her gallery show, and the ways art in public and private spaces can shape and reflect experience and identity in New York.

Episode Overview

In this episode, Alison Stewart sits down with acclaimed abstract artist and professor Lisa Corinne Davis. The discussion revolves around Davis’s new permanent mosaic installations as part of the MTA Arts & Design program, her solo exhibit at the Miles McHenry Gallery, and the larger meanings behind her process, abstraction, and the role of art in New Yorkers’ everyday movements.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The NYC Subway Mosaic Project

• Davis’s Deep Connection: Davis highlights her unique relationship with the 68th Street–Lexington Avenue station as a former student, longtime professor at Hunter College, and artist now leaving her mark on the space (01:09).
• Intentions for the Artwork:
  • The mosaics aim to evoke both movement and pause—reflecting the “frenetic energy” of city life, but also providing spaces for rest and contemplation within the station’s architecture (01:42).
  • Abstract elements symbolize navigation, representing both the literal transit experience and the metaphorical journey through urban life.
  • Davis uses abstract forms and fragments of colored glass to evoke a “multitude of personalities” (“I hope that in an abstract work, someone looking at it is always bringing a bit of themselves to what they're looking at.” — Davis, 03:32).
• Navigating Public Art Commissions:
  • The MTA contacted her for the project; the selection process involves “rigorous” proposal reviews and tailoring artwork to neighborhood context (02:20-02:56).

Artistic Choices and Process

• The “Liminal Locations” Mosaic:
  • “Liminal” refers to transitional, in-between spaces—reflecting the essence of commuting and change (04:00–04:05).
  • Designs originated from digital versions of techniques Davis uses in her paintings, later meticulously translated by master mosaicists Meyer of Munich (04:24–04:56).
  • On the work's ambiguity: “The work is supposed to be maximal and minimal at the same time. It could be aerial or not. So the sense of just movement. I don't want the person to be somewhere, but be really aware that they're moving to and from spaces.” (05:46)
• Grid Motifs:
  • “I use the grid in every work. It’s somewhere in every piece I do. I think of the grid as a very factual, stable, abstract language, very measured, unquestioning. And then in every piece, I try to mess with that grid so it becomes more personal, subjective, human.” (06:57)
  • This reflects both the physical New York City grid and the push-pull between order and lived experience.

Public vs. Gallery Art

• On Public Art’s Impact:
  • Davis describes installing public art as “the best experience I’ve had,” celebrating casual, unexpected encounters with her work by commuters and students (07:45).
  • “Not that I don’t love the art gallery, but it’s a different kind of space where one can casually observe it, spend as much time as they want, zoom by it if they want, but it means the world to have that work there.” (07:45)
• Community and Perspectives:
  • The station’s diversity influenced her approach to abstraction, hoping viewers see themselves and their journeys reflected (03:32).
  • “People often associate themselves. This reminds me of this, or this is this location or is that Paris… I want them to be aware that those things aren't really in the paintings, that they're bringing their subjective self, the way they interpret it, their histories, their biases.” (15:07)

The Miles McHenry Gallery Show: “Syllogism”

• Exhibit Themes:
  • Title was suggested by a playwright friend: “Syllogism… is a form of reasoning in which a conclusion is drawn from or not to assume premises. …That’s the essence of how I want my work to live. …That every individual brings themselves to the pieces.” (09:16)
• Scale and Style:
  • Davis prefers large canvases (e.g., 80x60 inches) for bodily engagement and range of scale (10:01).
• Abstraction as Identity:
  • “Abstraction to me is the felt. I’m not telling a specific story … I’m working from the inside, not the outside. …I’m talking about a very specific feeling I had in my life as a light-skinned African American woman who grew up in a Orthodox Jewish neighborhood and went to a Quaker school.” (10:30)
• Process and Challenges:
  • Paintings undergo many revisions; shapes and layers may be concealed but inform the final piece.
  • On being a “slow painter”: oil paint’s slow drying time suits her layered, considered process: “Patience is important here.” (16:40–17:25)
• Small Works vs. Large Works:
  • Small paintings are often created at artist residencies due to travel constraints and are a different experience, but still inform her larger practice (14:25).

Reflections on Art, Career, and Teaching

• Early Inspiration:
  • Fell in love with the transformative “magic” of painting in second grade, an experience that set her path as an artist (17:28).
• Persistence in Practice:
  • When becoming a mother, she made art fit her life rather than stopping—“it just wasn’t a choice.” (22:03)
• Breakthrough Moments:
  • Showing with the June Kelly Gallery was a turning point, facilitated by mentors and direct feedback from the gallery director (22:26).
• Teaching at Hunter College:
  • “I love my job. My students are fantastic. …My students are interested, primarily, in no technology. They're really tired of it and trying to find ways to get around it.” (23:42)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the diversity of the subway station:
  • “It's a potpourri of what New York City's all about.” (01:09, Davis)
• On abstraction and the viewer’s role:
  • “I just hope that in an abstract work that someone looking at it is always bringing a bit of themselves to what they're looking at.” (03:32, Davis)
• On the ambiguity and movement in her mosaics:
  • “The work is supposed to be maximal and minimal at the same time. It could be aerial or not.” (05:46, Davis)
• On public art’s meaning:
  • “It means the world to have that work there.” (07:45, Davis)
• On abstraction and lived experience:
  • “Abstraction to me is the felt. …I'm working from the inside, not the outside.” (10:30, Davis)
• On subjective interpretation:
  • “They're bringing their subjective self … their histories, their biases into what they want that painting to be.” (15:07, Davis)
• On teaching:
  • “My students are interested, primarily, in no technology. They're really tired of it and trying to find ways to get around it.” (23:42, Davis)

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |------------|-----------------------------------------------------| | 00:56 | Lisa Corinne Davis describes her initial reaction to the station and her intentions for the artwork. | | 02:20 | The MTA Arts & Design commission process explained. | | 03:32 | Davis on diversity and abstraction in her subway mosaics. | | 04:00–05:24| Discussion of “Liminal Locations” and mosaic process with Meyer of Munich. | | 05:46 | Davis’s hopes for commuters’ responses to her work. | | 06:57 | On the grid as metaphor and artistic motif. | | 07:45 | Public art’s impact and Davis’s reflections. | | 09:16 | Gallery show title “Syllogism” and its conceptual link to the artwork. | | 10:30 | The meaning of abstraction for Davis personally. | | 15:07 | The map metaphor and subjective engagement with paintings. | | 16:40–17:25| Process as a “slow painter” and technical discussion of oil paint. | | 17:28 | Earliest exposure to art and formative experience. | | 22:26 | “Big break” story and the June Kelly Gallery. | | 23:42 | Teaching at Hunter College and student interests. |

Episode Takeaways

• Art in Public Spaces: Davis’s subway mosaics are designed to serve as waypoints and metaphors for New Yorkers’ daily journeys, asking viewers to bring their own interpretations and experiences to abstraction.
• Abstraction as Personal Statement: For Davis, abstraction emerges from lived complexity—her work is shaped by her identity and the cultural multiplicity of her surroundings.
• Practice and Perseverance: Davis’s career shows the role of persistence, adaptation (as a mother and artist), and the importance of community, mentorship, and teaching.
• Art as Dialogue: Both Davis’s mosaics and paintings function as invitations for dialogue—between self and space, artist and viewer, fact and feeling.

For images from the gallery and the subway murals, viewers are directed to the show’s Instagram: @allofitnyc (09:03, 13:58).