Sunday 5 July 2015

malkunst oder we’re having a heat-wave, a tropical heat-wave

I have always had a fondness for such murals cast onto the rather monotonous concrete (Beton) faรงades of buildings—celebrating perhaps a hobby of the owners, industry, religious and regional motifs, hope or hospitality, especially vintage 1960s and 1970s (during the rebuilding boom mainly of the post-war period) for their abstract, modern design—and have used a lot of these images previously, like this homage to pigeon-fanciers or this mosaic on the side of the bank in Bad Karma and many others that I struggle to find as I have not bothered curating them properly.
On the hottest day since a dozen years, when the mercury rose to 40ยบ Centigrade (an unnatural, wilting and disgusting 104° Fahrenheit) we ventured out to have a refreshing dip in a pool in a the nearby village of Schรถnau.
 Along the way towards the bathing installation (which was quite nice and didn’t feel overly crowded even though everyone else in a twenty kilometer radius had the same idea as us), I noticed quite a trove of such decorations, and I knew that I had to return, despite the unflagging heat, and take a few pictures before the go the way of the Gartenzwerge (lawn gnomes) or church bells (something that people aren’t always sentimental for or even tolerant of) and are torn down or spackled over in the name of progress.