Paris Metro Station (2nd State)

Armin Landeck

Aside from the curvature of the tunnel openings, Landeck's abstracted view of the Paris Metro, possibly in the Cité station, uses a carefully plotted series of straight lines to convey volume, and to illustrate the interplay of light and shadow as they compete against the gloss of tiled walls. In his later career, Landeck's work - already founded on a love of the angular and the architectural - had broken through the rigidity of pure representation to explore how three dimensional and ephemeral elements overlay one another on a two dimensional plane, the result often being that the works appeared to vibrate with energy.

In "Paris Metro" there is much more conveyed than simple structures. One can almost hear the cacophony of travelers, their voices bouncing off the curved walls; as well, one might feel the rush of wind that precedes an approaching train as it barrels through a tunnel.