Untitled (Richard Fleischner artwork at Alewife station)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Untitled | |
|---|---|
,_November_2020.jpg) | |
 | |
| Artist | Richard Fleischner |
| Year | 1985 |
| Type | Granite installation art and landscape |
| Location | Alewife station, Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| 42°23′44″N 71°08′27″W / 42.39564°N 71.14092°W | |
| Owner | Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority |
Untitled is a 1985 public art installation by American artist Richard Fleischner located in a courtyard adjacent to Alewife station on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Red Line in northwest Cambridge, Massachusetts. The artwork – an environmental piece consisting of granite block designs among a landscape – cost $40,000 to create as part of the Arts on the Line program.[1]
Untitled is a large-scale outdoor piece, covering some 3 acres (12,000 m2) on a parcel of land nested between Alewife Brook Parkway (MA-2/US-3/MA-16), the main station entrance, and the five-story parking garage.[2] An elongated artificial pond is surrounded by a grassy area with trees and decorative pavers, intended to be a "usable space for MBTA commuters and community residents" while also serving as part of the drainage system necessary for the large concrete garage structure.[2] Like several other works from the Arts on the Line project, Untitled includes stone monoliths. Arranged around one corner of the work, the large granite bollards are arranged mostly horizontally and vertical save for one angled block resting upon two others. The blocks were designed to be durable, lasting as long as 75 years, as per City of Cambridge public art standards applied to the project.[3]
Untitled incorporates various elements of Fleischner's artistic style. Fleischner was primarily known at the time as an environmental sculptor who had created installations like "The Maze", an outdoor metal labyrinth at University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Untitled was intended as environmentally beneficial to the station area as well as merely artistic.[4] Other works of his also include monolithic, rectangular granite components as parts of large-scale sculptures.[5][6]
