Burnishing the Rich Man

Life Underground (2001) is a permanent public artwork created by American Sculptor Tom Otterness for the 14th Street and Eighth Avenue station (A, C, E, L trains) of the New York City subway. It was commissioned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Arts for Transit program for  $200,000 — one percent of the station's reconstruction budget. This work is one of the most popular artworks in the subway system. Some of the "Life Underground" bronze sculpture elements including the sewer alligator.The installation is a series of whimsical miniature bronze sculptures depicting cartoon like characters showing people and animals in various situations, and additional abstract sculptures, which are dispersed throughout the station platforms and passageways. Otterness said the subject of the work is "the impossibility of understanding life in New York" and describes the arrangement of the individual pieces as being “scattered in little surprises.” Art critic Olympia Lambert wrote that "the lovable bronze characters installed there are joined together by a common theme of implied criminality mixed with an undercurrent of social anarchy," but labeled them as "too cute", saying that this "undercuts the work's more critical edge." Many of the figures have moneybag heads, and Otterness credits 19th century political cartoonist Thomas Nastl'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 these. One of the larger pieces depicts a sewer alligator, as described by reporter Michael Rundle: "There is a bronze alligator on the Eighth Avenue and 14th Street subway platform, wearing a suit and tie. A 10-inch (250 mm)-high bronze man — also wearing a suit and tie — is struggling to escape his powerful jaws. Watching the scene, aside from throngs of L train riders, is another 10-inch (250 mm) figure. He stands beside his stricken friend, hands clasped behind his back, as if to say: 'I told you not to get so close'.” Otterness' sculpture has been praised for its appeal to all ages. The New York Times published a 2003 account describing the interaction of a 4-year old boy with the sewer alligator. After jumping on the alligator's head and trying to wrestle the little man from his bronze jaws, the observer notes that the boy, "about to give up, he kicked the alligator, his foot connecting solidly with the bronze head. Surprise spread across his face as he ran away, crying, 'Mom, it tried to bite me!'."