Travel Musings 2 – Manholes, Murals, Monoliths, and More

Like any habitual traveler, I crave sightseeing:  graceful architecture, stirring historical sites, glorious mountains, striking wildlife (the usual … better wages, safer working conditions, etc.).   

Most of all, though, I love uncovering the rhyme and rhythm of an unfamiliar place by mixing with ordinary people going about their lives. Paul Simon, as so often, captures this perfectly:

“A man walks down the street/It’s a street in a strange world/…/He is a foreign man/He is surrounded by the sound, the sound … He looks around, around/He sees angels in the architecture/Spinning in infinity/He says “Amen and Hallelujah!” Paul Simon, “Call Me Al.”

Often, the setting for these ordinary lives involves extraordinary art that I’ll call incidental:  graffiti, murals, and sculptures passed while walking or biking through an unfamiliar city.

Much of this incidental art is “public,” sanctioned by municipal authorities to add color or whimsy to an otherwise pedestrian (in both senses) streetscape.  Some is traditional street art:  vibrant, often illegal drawings with a cultural or political message.  And some, you just walk on.

I’ll take these in reverse order.

Manhole covers – literal street art

Visiting a new city, it’s easy to get caught up in the skyline, the setting, the atmosphere.  If you look down, though, you may be pleasantly surprised.  Many cities, particularly in Europe, view manhole covers as cultural canvases.    

In the US, at least where I live, manhole covers are strictly functional:  heavy metal discs (of the non-Iron Maiden variety) with anodyne doodles rather than artistic decorations.

Overseas, in contrast, your Hokas may hike upon municipal coats of arms:

Your OCs may overrun medieval castles:

And your Merrells may maneuver among stylized local landscapes and lives:

(Based on personal observation, those three brands account for over 90 percent of footwear worn by American tourists overseas.)

I think I’m so tickled (figuratively) by decorative manhole covers because they’re a simple, ubiquitous way of zhuzhing up a city and boosting civic pride.  Particularly in America, where too often function is foremost and form is deemed frivolous, little steps like decorative manhole covers could enhance the urban environment without busting municipal budgets.

Murals

Nothing affirms, enhances, or reframes a street scene like a well-designed mural.  Some communicate political or social messages, often wordlessly and always vibrantly. 

Others commemorate local happenings or heroes. 

And some just animate otherwise somnolent streets and alleys. 

Sculptures

Murals might be unofficial and even subversive.  Outdoor sculptures, in contrast, are nearly always Public Art with capital letters.  Many are abstract. 

I assume they’re intended to be Meaningful and Thought-Provoking, even if their Import eludes me (a frequent occurrence in my life generally).

Others celebrate animals, because why not?

Of course, there are also plenty of sculptures devoted to the glorious workers (left over from Communism) and violent national origins, but I prefer my art less sledge-like. All the same, for the sake of completeness, here’s a literal monolith from Vidin, Bulgaria:

There you have it: whether they’re just unusually nutritious eye candy or freighted with significance, these sculptures, murals, and manhole covers intrigued me (it doesn’t take much), made me think (ditto), and delighted or at least struck my esthetic sensibilities (ditto again).

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I’ll leave you for now with two sculptures from Liverpool, one of unclear significance and one (or four) Fab: