Heavy Metal Mondrian--a Sewer Story

JF Ptak Science Books   Quick Post

Walking through the Western North Carolina Mountain Fair last week-end I found a little bit of Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) embedded in the sidewalk.  (Mondrian helped establish De Stijl (1917 or thereabouts), with a philosophy of using lines to transform artistic thought onto canvas, and the lines were all horizontal or vertical, with square and rectangular shapes. These would represent the pure harmonies of expression, along with the primary colors as well as black and white. His images are iconic.)

Here's the cleaned-up version of what I saw underneath the text:

And the original:

And Mondrian's trees:

And this:

Had he seen this sewer access, I think that Mondrian would have been pleased.)

Once you start looking for Mr. Mondrian, he seems to be everywhere:

[Source: The Guardian blog.]

Comments

[Jeff Donlan]

Nice find. One wonders which came first: Mondrian or the design on manhole covers? As a child in NYC, I was fascinated by these portals, along with sewer grates and the remarkable upwelling vents over the subways. Now and then, an ancient door into stone or concrete that looked as if it hadn't been opened since the Romans. Even then, the patina and design were from another age, pre-polymer.