London-based artist Lakwena Maciver has painted a rarely used rooftop in bright colours and geometric shapes as part of a redevelopment of a London Underground station.
Called Back in the Air: A Meditation on Higher Ground, the artwork stretches over the 1,400-square-metre roof terrace of Temple Station in central London.
Maciver was commissioned by 180 Studios and Westminster City Council to paint the station's roof terrace, which is located between the River Thames and the Strand.
Maciver was commissioned to brighten up the unused rooftop above Temple Station
The painting is meant to act as "a beacon of London's recovery" as the city comes out of the coronavirus pandemic.
"Back in the Air is about connection," Maciver told Dezeen. "I like to respond to the context of spaces when I'm making work in public spaces, and this felt really relevant here given the name Temple and the fact that the space is a raised platform, facing the heavens." "A lot of my work is concerned with this connection between above and below and between people," she added.
The phrase Nothing can Separate Us is incorporated into the design
Maciver used a kaleidoscope of paint colours including royal blue, vibrant turquoise and bright green in stripes, squares and text for her "contemporary vision of Paradise".
After sketching out her planned designs, the artist translated her initial drawings into a pattern that was stuck to the roof using tiles that ...