It was my friend David who first pointed out the sculptures in the 14th Street & 8th Avenue subway station to me. I was certain that these whimsical little characters had been there for years but in reality "Life Underground" was created in the nineties by American sculptor, Tom Otterness and installed in 2000.
Otterness credits 19th century political cartoonist Thomas Nast's depiction of Boss Tweed and the corruption of Tammany Hall that was ongoing at the time of the subway's initial construction as his inspiration for the sculptures, hence my thought that they were from a bygone era. Regardless, they never fail to bring a smile to my face and when you think about today's political climate and the Occupy Wall Street movement, many of them seem particularly relevant.
