Admire Those Amazing Little Mazes On Local and Distant Stations in London: Where, Why, What Do They Mean?

 

I was puzzled by the little Labyrinth on the wall at ground level near the entrance to Northwick Park station in North London. I asked the man serving at the kiosk, "Do you know what this little design means?" He simply shrugged and raised his hands in the air. "It's an artwork."

 Now I can explain it, to local people, or foreign visitors. I feel really pleased with myself. I am a guide, a teacher. I can write about it in my blog. I can put it on Pinterest. I can add it on Google maps.  

I only recently,  yesterday, discovered that the same artist has designed different labyrinths for stations. All over London. 

The artist is Mark Wallinger.  Mark my words, his name is easy to remember. Mark the wall. Wall injured. Or, if you prefer a positive memory aid, wall enjoy. Or wall ingenius. Mark Willinger. 

Why bother to remember his name? Because you will see his little mazes on the walls of railway stations all over London, the station you depart from and the station you arrive at. 

For years I had walked past the little maze on the wall at Northwick Park station and wondered, what is that doing here? What has a maze got to do with this area? The answer is, nothing. The mazes are all over London. Each station has its own maze and each one is unique and charming.

Mark's Labyrinth at Heathrow. Picture from Wikimedia.

Where might you visit? Hyde Park Corner.

Hyde Park Corner. Simple, neat design.

What does it all mean? Is the underground a maze to you? Once you have found the entrance and the destination, all becomes clear. It is really neat, and compact. 

One maze on its own, like one station on its own, might not be particularly useful, not connected with anything else. But once you have the whole picture of linked mazes and stations, you have a satisfying system.

Yes, those little mazes remind you that the underground network is a maze at first sight. However, it is logical. Once you have found the entrance and the destination, you feel in control and satisfied. Problem solved.

First I looked at them all in grid fashion on the Wikimedia page. I tried to pick out famous stations, central stations I might visit. Heathrow, Victoria, Hyde Park Corner.  

Then I looked at the patterns and tried to pick out contrasting styles. Simple maze. Contrast with complicated maze. Central symbolic shape like a hard diamond. Central symbolic shape like a curved flower. Rigid shape of the whole. Swirly shape of the whole, curved like a map of your brain. 

Finally, I found that the best way to compare them is to go to wikimedia, click on one of the pictures, select more details, then click on the left or right arrows to go through each one individually, reading the captions.

I found that the whole set were designed to celebrate 150 years of the London underground. The designs are grouped under names such as (alphabetically): 

American Indian. 

Chamfered (Chalfont & Latimer, West Acton). 

East (Highgate, Manor House, St John's Wood, Totteridge and Whetstone). 

Emboss (Angel, Arnos Grove, Euston Square). 

Medieval (Archway, Barbican, Bounds Green, High Barnet). 

Native American (Farringdon, Southgate).  

Opposed (Moorgate, Swiss Cottage, West Finchley). 

Organic (Ealing Common, Great Portland Street, Wood Green). 

The Square family (Ealing Broadway, Finchley Central, Finchley Road, Old Street, Turnpike East, Woodside Park). 

Turf (Cockfosters, East Finchley, Kentish Town, Tufnell Park). 

The West. Woodcut (Mill Hill East, Oakwood station).

My favourite designs one by one, including popular places you and I might visit on our next trip to central London:

Leicester Square

High Street Kensington. Dead white circle centre.

Green Park

Bayswater

Now my favourites from stations which you and I are unlikely to visit unless we live or work there:

Hatton Cross. I like the six petal flower centre.

Most are displayed against red brick (a London feature, from London's red clay) or white tiles. I like the green background of the artwork on Wimbledon Park station.

Useful Websites

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Labyrinth_(Art_on_the_Underground)#/media/File:Mark_Wallinger_Labyrinth_269_-_Heathrow_Terminals_1,_2,_3.

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2020/10/delightful-decorations-on-london.html

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Labyrinth_(Art_on_the_Underground)

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10622805/Secrets-Victoria-Line-station-tiled-mura

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_on_the_Underground

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_London_Underground_stations

If you like this post, please save it, bookmark it, and share it.

Colourful Tiles and Artistic Artwork To Admire on underground stations all over London, England

Southwark

Southwark underground station, London, England.

The pink and green - and blue - doesn't it arrest your attention! Isn't it delicious? For me its memories are sugary. I don't often relate to people who can translate pictures into sounds, or colours into tastes, but this bright pink seems to me almost edible.  The pink evokes delightful images of pink drinks. Sweet foods. Childhood. Parties. Birthdays. Days out. Fairgrounds. Like pink candy floss.

To me this design is both good and bad. Let's start with what is good. The colours are warm, wonderful, vivid, varied. 

But the rigid squares, stiff stripes? It could have had waves. Ovals. 

The upright stripes are like crowds of soldiers or commuters. It is a marching design. Hurrying on. Energetic.

Not soothing. Yet, I like it. Why?

Yes, on the whole, on second thoughts, on last thoughts, final decision, I like it. it is better than the old plain walls of so many public places. I like the bold colours. It looks easy to clean. It won't show the dirt like a white wall or any wall all one colour. It discourages graffiti.

You can see the colours from a distance. No challenge tao your knowledge of local history or national culture. No guessing the meaning of symbols. Just colour and simple shapes.  

The shapes are a bit of a mish-mash. Squares or diamonds, circles, stripes. Make up your mind, Mr or Mrs artist. Which is it, rigid straight lines or soothing circles? 

What about the patterns? Looks like a five year old picked the design from a book of patterns. Black and white stripes on day one. Diamonds on day two. Then circles.

Finally, when teacher or parents suggested add some colour, colour. Turn both squares and diamonds into colour. Random colours.

What are the colours? Red, orange, yellow, green, blue. Black and white. No pink or purple. (Nothing too flamboyant. Nor anything depressing, grey or brown, not colours of mould and or earthy dirt.) Nothing challenging. Something for everyone.

No detail. Never mind. This is a corridor. Can't have people stopp ing to inspect the detail, check the text. We want them to more on, along the corridor and up the escalator. 

Energize everybody. Get them off to work, or shopping, with enthusiasm. Give them the energy to get home after their tiring day.

Okay, that works.

Vauxhall Street.

I love colour. On murals. Anywhere. I prefer colour to boring black and white. But the black and white informative panels featuring historical and fictional characters also grab my attention. 

Usually I am hurrying past to a destination. On the way home I am tired and do not want to stop. But once in a while I have the time, the leisure and pleasure, to stand and stare, and photograph the murals.

My favourite design on the London underground is Sherlock Holmes on Baker Street. Simple, straightforward, one person featured, easy to understand and recognize. On one mural, tiny black silhouettes of Sherlock Holmes in his deerstalker hat make up the image of his pipe.

Baker Street underground railway station mural.

I was puzzled by the little Labyrinth on the wall at ground level near the entrance to Northwick Park station in North London. I asked the man serving at the kiosk, "Do you know what this little design means?" He simply shrugged and raised his hands in the air. "It's an artwork."

 Now I can explain it, to local people, or foreign visitors. I feel really pleased with myself. I am a guide, a teacher. I can write about it in my blog. I can put it on Pinterest. I can add it on Google maps.  

I only recently,  yesterday, discovered that the same artist has designed different labyrinths for stations all over London. The artist is Mark Wallinger.  Mark my words, his name is easy to remember. Mark the wall. Wall injured. Or, if you prefer a positive memory aid, wall enjoy. Or wall ingenius. Mark Willinger. Why bother to remember his name? Because you will see his little mazes on the walls of railway stations all over London, the station you depart from and the station you arrive at. 

For years I had walked past the little maze on the wall at Northwick Park station and wondered, what is that doing here? What has a maze got to do with this area? The answer is, nothing. The mazes are all over London. Each station has its own maze and each one is unique and charming.

Mark's Labyrinth at Heathrow. Picture from Wikimedia.

Useful Websites

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Labyrinth_(Art_on_the_Underground)#/media/File:Mark_Wallinger_Labyrinth_269_-_Heathrow_Terminals_1,_2,_3.

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2020/10/delightful-decorations-on-london.html

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Labyrinth_(Art_on_the_Underground)

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10622805/Secrets-Victoria-Line-station-tiled-mura

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_on_the_Underground

If you like this post, please save it, bookmark it, and share it.

Giant Cartoon To See - The big mural at Newton MRT station in Singapore

The tiny tasters of this artist's amusing artwork are along the corridors at Newton MRT station.

 The small ones make me keen to see more of the artist's magestic mural, which sails passes too quickly when you are on the escalator.

What the passener sees. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

As you - actually I mean I - rush out to a meeting, you have no time to stop and enjoy even the small ones. Everybody is too busy, being Singaporean and kiasu, meaning keen get ahead or don't miss out.


But coming back late evening when the crowd has thinned out and you are not in such a harry to arrive on time. So you can take a leisurely look and, in my case, take a photo.

I dodge around, trying to stop the reflected lights runing the picture, to also minmise distortion from looking up or looking sideways. My husband has a professional picture editing program you can use to minimise distortion, but it takes half an hour per picture, which would be fine for a rofessional photography being paid, or an amateur entering a contest, but when you want four pictures for a blog post, and so spend less than three hours on one post, not such an urgent task.

However, seeing and photographing to see later the big mural is more of a challenge. I usually rush towards the downwards escalator on the Downtown line. This time, by chance, the word serendipity, meaning happy chance discovery, I found out the secret. Because passers-by kept scurring across my photographic line of vision, instead of stepping forward as usual, I stepped backwards. The further I stepped back, the more of the mural I could see. Although each individual bit is smaller, and the x shape of the crossing escalators is visible, you can see the scale of the entire mural.

I was delighted with the effect. I hope you like it, too. \the itneresting lesson is that an indoor mural is like an outdoor mural from a photographer's point of view. Better to step back and ensure you have at least one shot of the mural in its entirety.

If people are in the way, never mind. That gives you a sense of scale and height. Every time I look I see something new.

How lucky we are to live in this era.

Useful Websites
Getting to Singapore
singaporeair.com
MRT map
Wikipedia information on the Newton station and artists
Murals of Singapore
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murals_in_Singapore
Murals by country
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Murals_by_country

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I can give a talk to any business or college in Singapore or worldwide about the artiwork on the MRT train stations, the statues in the streets, and murals worldwide.

Photo Contest On Tunnels - Artwork in Singapore; London, and stations worldwide

The three winning photos on the theme of tunnels are now on display not only at Newton MRT station in Singapore but also at Downtown station.

What more Art at Newton?

London's Tube
London, England, is all tunnels. That's why it is called The Tube. We also speak of tube trains, which is neatly alliterative.

Paddington station, London
From here you descend a staircase to the tube line.

The dimness of the tunnel at Baker Street station is relieved by the white tiles and the distraction of the attention grabbing evocative artwork showing Sherlock Holmes. The fictional detective, (based on a Scottish man) is shown with his pipe and deerstalker hat. 

Curves are always soothing. Notice here we have the London Underground symbol, red circle and white complete disc centre around the horizontal tube station name.

Useful Websites

Airline

singaporeair.com

Tourism

visitbritain.com

visitsingapore.com

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

I have many more posts on London and stations and singapore and stations you can see worldwide. Please bookmark and share links with your favourite family and friends.

More cute artwork on Newton MRT train station corridors

The design of this futuristic fantasy reminds me of a starfish.

I bet ninety-nine out of a hundred don't notice this. 

I asked a relative of mine if he remembered it. 

He replied, "I would not remember. I'm usually making mental lists of what I need to do."

Singapore is a great stopover between Russia or Europe and Australia. 

Travel Tips

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

australia.com

visitbritain.com

visitbritain.shop.com

visitbritain.org

visittheusa.co.uk

visitsingapore.com

Singapore Airlines: 

singaporeair.com

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2018/12/secret-travellers-seen-on-newton-station.html

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/01/cute-musicians-in-cartoons-on-toilet.html

See also my posts on Waterloo Street, The National Gallery, and Singapore's big attractions.

My Favourite Humorous artwork on Newton station, Singapore

These little drawings lift the spirit. I forget my stress. Someone sat calm and alone designing these scenes. Or maybe they sat in a coffee bar discussing the ideas.

I wish they made the drawings bigger and brought them down to eye height. I have to photograph them and blow them up to see the details.

What makes me think they are humorous? The shape of the vehicle. it does not have the straight lines of a graphic design prototype, nor anything designed to swim, or submerge, or fly.

Looking up at eight passengers in a futuristic travel machine. Newton MRT Station. Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Singapore is a great stopover between Russia or Europe and Australia. 

Travel Tips

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

australia.com

visitbritain.com

visitbritain.shop.com

visitbritain.org

visittheusa.co.uk

visitsingapore.com

Singapore Airlines: 

singaporeair.com

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2018/12/secret-travellers-seen-on-newton-station.html

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/01/cute-musicians-in-cartoons-on-toilet.html

See also my posts on Waterloo Street, The National Gallery, and Singapore's big attractions.

Station Art: Secret travellers seen on Cute Newton station Murals

I go through Newton station on Singapore's Downtown line many times, usually in too much of a hurry to look at the pictures on the walls.

Last time was different. First I stopped to admire the giant mural.

Then I looked at the little ones. I thought they would be practical, wildlife recorded, or scenes from the past. No they were travellers of the future.

Their vehicle reminded me of a submarine, a helicopter and a spaceship.

Travel Tips

https://www.nationalgallery.sg/visit

$20 for adults from overseas. Concessions. PR (Permanent Residents with NRIC identity card and citizens free.)

https://www.lta.gov.sg/content/ltaweb/en/public-transport/mrt-and-lrt-trains/art-and-architecture/art-in-transit/gallery/dtl.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_MRT_(Singapore)

visitsingapore.com

Singapore Airlines: singaporeair.com

Author

Travel writer and photographer, Angela Lansbury 

See my posts about Singapore and beautiful places around the world, 

Please bookmark and share your favourite posts.

Art on the Underground in Singapore - One North

Photo credit : Angela Lansbury.

Colourful and dramatic artwork at One North MRT in Singapore.

Author

Angela Lansbury, writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Giant Orange Colour Artworks In South Australia Gallery In The Wine State

Flag of Australia

Flag of South Australia

Problem
How to dash to catch an exciting exhibition? Where and when?

Answer
WHEN?
No hurry, no worry.  The new exhibition in South Australia will be there for the best part of two years so if you've already made other plans for this year you can think ahead to next year and fit this into your plans for next year.

WHERE?
The installation is in South Australia, the central area of South Australia, which is also known as The Wine State. You could combine art and wine tours. If you already know Perth and Sydney and Melbourne, add Adelaide, the capital of South Australia to your list of been there, done that. If you are planning to see any of the other cities, add on Adelaide.

Art Gallery of South Australia
Kajinoz at en.wikipedia

WHAT?
The Artwork - Outside
The three orange dresses hanging overhead outside above the entrance are your welcome and first photo opportunity. The dresses are flowing and linked.

The Artwork - Inside
Inside is an entire room with the ceiling connected with orange wool, like a giant spider's web. What a pity it's all so random. I wish she had copied a spider's web with its intricate patterns. That would have been my idea. But she is the one who had imagined and created this. The Artist's work is done with her daughter who contributed the hands and feet, which add to the image of movement and connection. The light and colour of the wool contrast with the solidity of the sculptures of the hands and feet.

Inside a large room contains 200 km of red string 'drawing in the air', says Chiaru Shiota, who is Japanese.  The gallery has already had a million visitors in their last financial year and anticipate more visitors from all over the world.

I think of the orange lines like the lines of aeroplanes connecting people from one side of the world to the other. The feet take you walking. The hands are all the hands you meet, from the check-in handing you receipts for luggage, to the handshakes of people you meet, to the hands of people carrying plates of food to your table, preparing or serving food, or at the exhibition pointing the way, and friends and strangers who have become familiar faces, now waving goodbye.

WHO?
The Artist
Chiaru Shiota. Her artworks have appeared in Paris, Brussels, Madrid, Germany, Finland and the USA.
Her daughter.

WHAT ELSE?
Guided tours of the extensive gallery.

English: AGSA director Nick Mitzevich addressing Museums Australia conference delegates, 24 September 2012. Original filename = DSC13739.jpg
Date	24 September 2012, 16:48:50
Source	Own work
Author	Bahudhara

Other art:
Historical Artworks

Australian Art

Home of artist John Glover, now in the Art Gallery of South Australia. (John Glover 1767-1849). Photo from Wikipedia, USA public domain.

Modern International Art

The art gallery has a shop and a restaurant. Their website tells you about the shop, the jewellery collection including Lalique, children's activities in the school holidays, and late night opening until 9 pm on the first Friday of the month.

More about Adelaide and how to get there from overseas and get around Australia in the next post.

Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Australia
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/South_Australia#
https://www.artgallery.sa.gov.au/agsa/home/Exhibitions/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvMvTtQ-zg4&feature=youtu.be (Chiharu Shiota artworks and music.)
http://www.chiharu-shiota.com/en/

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Please share links to your favourite posts.

Cashew Station artwork shows clean Singapore; what about cashew trees?

If you try the new Downtown line in Singapore which opened after Xmas in late December 2015 ready for the new year, you will have the chance to see some new artwork.

Cashew station at first disappointed me because I was hoping for something bigger and more colourful. But when I had time to stop and read the caption and look closely I appreciated that it was not an old style 2D painting but a rather original artwork, more like a collage of found objects.

I would be tempted to call it multi-media, but my son insists that multi-media would be at least two different types of media, such as sound and light. So a collage of feathers and buttons is still a collage. In this artwork we have a collage of everyday cleaning materials such as toilet brushes used to convey the theme of clean, green Singapore, the vision of Singapore as a Garden City.

I would have liked more greenery. But you can see that elsewhere. The Botanic Gardens station has a tree (see later post).

For news about cashew nut trees in the area, see later post.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.