A wall along the canal features this singing bluebird and it makes me smile every time. Whether intended or not, it feels “sunny” to me and perks me up. My Grandma would have liked it. Her favorite color was blue.
It’s a blue sky Autumn day in Milano today. Mid-60s. Not a cloud and hardly a breeze. The air is fresh. Mmm.
The Italians are serious about their month-long vacations at the peak of summer heat. Those I know have left for France, Spain, Poland, Tunisia… anywhere but here! Around town, the only faces are of immigrants, tourists and, I guess, those rare Italians that have no other place to go. I’ve never seen so much parking available on the street, and probably won’t again for another year.
This month of August, I’ve got to assume that a business is closed. Most are sealed tight with their graffitied, roll-down doors posted with the sign “Chiuso per Ferie” – Closed for Vacation – and the date they’ll return. Closure is a given. Those that remain open advertise loudly that they are, but they retain a skeleton staff and few patrons. Hardly a soul to talk to, except the Kenyan woman behind the meat counter at the grocery store, and the little old lady in the produce department that I had a nice conversation with.
I had been buying my bottled water a half block away at the corner carry-out. Well, they’re spending a nice vacation somewhere, so now I carry my bottled water 4 blocks and buy it two liters at a time instead of 6. It gets heavy, but I can walk down the middle of the street while I do it.
The country’s big newspaper, Corriere della Serra, ran a “photo of the day” showing the wide-open, empty streets of Milan.
And here are other portions of the same sign:
The “street art” – the graffiti and murals – around here keeps my fingers clicking. And I find imagery around any corner, behind, under and on top of other things. The back sides of billboards. The hard-to-access building facades. The posters on top of posters, then layered and peeling. I find brick coupled with print … coupled with sprayed and brushed paints. I find the work of one artist augmented by the work of another. (Does the first artist see it that way? Is it collaboration and enhancement, or is it violation?)
Turning a corner yesterday, the tall, bare wall facing an idle patch of dry, scruffy ground had been enlivened by an incredible mural of several styles. It excited me! I just love the black and white, line-drawn, classic figure against the colorful and imaginative characters. What fun! One of my favorites to date!
And, don’t you love this chair against the mural, bright white and linear as if it’s a 3D part of the painting itself?! It’s all too perfect.
