On December 31, New York City will officially retire the transit system's MetroCard, that ubiquitous piece of plastic used to gain entrance onto subways and buses. But there is beauty in using MetroCards as the raw materials for art, as Thomas McKean has found.

New York

Artist Thomas McKeon creates intricate artworks using New York City MetroCards, a transit item introduced in 1993 and now being phased out in favor of tap-and-go systems. McKeon began experimenting with MetroCards over 20 years ago, crafting detailed models and everyday scenes, and emphasizes the importance of finding beauty in mundane objects.

With the MetroCard set to be officially retired on December 31, McKeon's art is displayed and sold at Fish's Eddie, a New York home goods store, highlighting the card's significance in city history. The artist and store owner both reflect on the MetroCard's role in uniting New Yorkers and its transformation from a disposable item into a symbol of shared experience and creativity.

MetroCard art: Swiping beauty from the mundane

These images of New York City become that much more remarkable once you realize they're made from an item many city dwellers carry in their pockets. They're heavier than you might think. That is heavier than you think. This is probably about 200 MetroCards tall. That's right, New York City MetroCards. The city's transit system, the largest in the country, first introduced them in 1993. For four decades before that, the token reigned supreme. Here's our current taxi cab and I built down the wheels and I built up the car layer by layer. You are a 3-D printer. I am. A slow one. A very slow one. Artist Thomas McKeon says inspiration struck more than 20 years ago when he was bored while riding the New York City subway. It was an advertisement for the MetroCard and I began idly wondering, how many words can I make out of the word MetroCard? So I cut up a MetroCard and that's when I began to realize, wow, this is pretty amazing material. How much money do you think you've cut up? I would think thousands and thousands of dollars. McKeon says his work is about finding beauty in the mundane. Even the eggs are made of MetroCards. What is it about this kind of art that's important? I like the fact that it makes art accessible, that anybody, if they don't mind, can find trash and maybe make, hopefully, a treasure out of it. In 2019, New York's Transportation Authority launched a tap-and-go system that works directly with a cell phone or credit card. The MetroCard is sliding into history and will be officially retired on December 31st. Do you see this as an icon of New York City culture? I really do. There's a real sadness as they go away. You know, it's something that bonds all New Yorkers. There's just an entire conglomeration of humanity. That tiny little piece that went through the machine and we all use it and we all curse at it sometimes when it doesn't work. At Fish's Eddie, a home goods store in New York City, McKeon's work sits alongside a sign that reads, In Loving Memory of the MetroCard. There's definitely a sense of history and New York history and American history. Julie Gaines is the store owner and sells McKeon's originals starting around $500. Prints go for less. It's got a sense of obsessiveness to it. You look at it and you think, I don't think there's enough hours in a lifetime to do something like that. It's quite beautiful. One day, McKeon's supplies will run out. This is a piece I recently did. But for now, he's still got plenty of swipes left. This throwaway little item, I found a world in it. And you never know where you're going to find these kind of worlds.

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