City Glow, Mountain Whisper

chiho aoshima

chiho aoshima

City Glow, Mountain Whisper is the name of the artwork by Japanese 'superflat' artist Chiho Aoshima at Gloucester Road Underground station. Filling the spaces between the arches on the Circle Line platform, City Glow, Mountain Whisper is a bright shiny world of anthropomorpic skyscrapers and glimmering mountain ranges, painted in a bold, captivating style, a collision of cartonn imagery, natural forms and traditional Japanese painting. While during the day it shines, at night it glows, lit from below, and can't help but lift the spirits of those that pass it.

According to the Transport for London web page:

"City Glow, Mountain Whisper shows a timeless world created by contemporary technology. It suggests a utopian vision of the earth in which the past and future have collided and the boundaries between organic creatures and inanimate things have broken down. It alludes to the results of genetic, technological and environmental developments. A hybrid of the human, the animal, the plant and the man-made is proposed, and life is literally breathed into each building and mountain."

On until 25 January 2007, if you're anywhere near Gloucester Road it's worth taking a detour to see it.

There are some great shots on Flickr, from where I've taken those shown, here, taken by Sifter and Owen B.