Like Steam On A Mirror
Wherever mankind travels we leave telltale marks behind. The marks can be anything from ruts left by Conestoga wagons bringing pioneers west to cave paintings or stone petroglyphs.
Some of our marks are instructional like signage. Some marks are temporary like the finger drawings we make on a steamy mirror or the sandcastles we build on a beach.
Some of our marks are instructional like signage. Some marks are temporary like the finger drawings we make on a steamy mirror or the sandcastles we build on a beach.
A big part of my travel experience is the (almost unconscious) absorption of everyday art and signage I encounter along the way. The problem is that we can become inured to it. So much so that we frequently don't even "see" it anymore.
So this blog post is dedicated to examples of the art and signage I've encountered while traveling. Some made me laugh. Some (like the tags painted on historic buildings) made my heart ache.
A lot of it made me stop and think.
I'll admit that some made me break down and cry.
A lot of it made me stop and think.
I'll admit that some made me break down and cry.
There are times I now kick myself for not stopping and snapping photographs.
Such was the case a few years back when I saw a big two-sided sign in rural North Carolina. On one side it proclaimed boldly "Jesus Rocks!". Then as I drove past in my rear view mirror I saw that the back of the sign just as loudly shouted "Satan Sucks!".
I ask you, who could not be impressed by the intellectual, yet direct, tenor of such a message?
Such was the case a few years back when I saw a big two-sided sign in rural North Carolina. On one side it proclaimed boldly "Jesus Rocks!". Then as I drove past in my rear view mirror I saw that the back of the sign just as loudly shouted "Satan Sucks!".
I ask you, who could not be impressed by the intellectual, yet direct, tenor of such a message?
So in no particular order.....
Cocktail Attire - Melrose Style
"T-Shirts Are Permitted With Jacket"
(Los Angeles CA)
Indeed it Does
(North Aurora, IL)
A Particularly Good Paste Up
(Berlin)
Simple, Direct, Honest
(Berlin)
Serious Sidewalk Chalk Art
(Florence)
Think!
(Berlin)
Utility Art
(Kamakura Japan)
Utility Art
(Berlin)
Utility Art
(Ueno Park, Tokyo)
"Got Your Nose" A Face on The Wall
(Venice)
"I Hate War"
FDR Memorial
(Washington DC)
The Murrah Building
Team 5 Graffiti
(Oklahoma City)
Light Standard
(Salt Lake City, UT)
Life Takes Time
(Savannah, GA)
Petroglyphs
(Valley of Fire, NV)
Aviation Reflection
(Turnagain Arm, Alaska)
Restaurant Mural
Per James Joyce
(Restaurant Baltimore, MD)
And I'm Still Here
(Berlin)
A Wall Tribute to the Comic Artist
(In Angouleme France - Home of the International Comic Arts Festival)
Bari Gotic Wall Stencil
(Barcelona, Catalonia)
Wall Art
(Berlin)
LBJ Library and Gardens
(Austin TX)
Burn The Rich
(Vienna, Austria)
informational Sign
"How to Wash Your Buttocks"
(Tokyo)
The Last Sign We Leave
The Ghiradelli Crypt
(Mountain View Cemetery Oakland, CA)
So Do I!
(Philadelphia)
Sign: How to Feed The Deer
(Nara, Japan)
Santa Barbara County Courthouse
(Santa Babara, CA)
Child Stencil
(Amsterdam)
Love Me
(Los Angeles)
Just some of the marks we leave.
Roadboy's Travels © 2014
Roadboy's Travels © 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment