Dachs6
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Feb 23. A little graffiti to turn a concrete casing for some sort of water work a little prettier. Note the subject: a smiling can of spray paint. You could say this is self-ware art. It is located at the bottom of the first of 11 total Cotacols I ascended today, the climb is called Li Voye des Moneys, it is #231 in the official book of Cotacols.
Feb 16, and I have finally take a photo with publicly commissioned art installed by Dzia. Recall that I posted something made to look like his style in January, but this is an actual piece…and it is part of a much larger and complex mural set that lines the walls of a major cycling tunnel that carries cyclists under a major secondary road (N16) that goes between Boom and Temse.
2/10 – Kruibeke. Belgium. A sculpture standing about 6.5m tall in front of the Schelde (river) on the promenade. It was made by a Belgian sculptor named Irénée Duriez. He specializes in the female form, and has been quite prolific in the 20th and 21st centuries. You can read about him at his website (in Dutch, English as I’ve linked it, French, or German): https://ireneeduriez.be/en
January 29, last ride in Stuttgart. Am Kleiner Schloßplatz sits this rather unique looking iron sculpture. I share it with you.
January 28, on the backside of Gottlieb-Daimler-Schule I, in Sindelfingen (just 3 minutes from my hotel), I saw this mural. When the adults complain about kids and their screens…and, then they put the characters from the video games to be on the school wall…
January 26, took a little ride to Bopser, in the forest on the south side of Stuttgart. Bagged this neat bit modern art in Höhenpark Killesberg on my return which took me through the city and back up through another forest I used to ride in quite a bit.
January 25, and on the same day! Finally. Saw this decorated garage/barn just on the western edge of Tübingen. It deserves to be featured, because there is no reason a barn should be boring. And this one is not!
Janaury 24, I rode to Bad Canstatt (well known for the location of the Canstatter Wasen, aka Stuttgart’s twice annual fest…spring and Oktober!) to meet an old pal. We did a murderous climb up onto the Rotenberg and then transited the forest, with a final descent back to Bad Canstatt for a some beers and catching. On the way to meet him I passed through the Unter Schlossgartn (the “lower” palace garden) and took a photo of the Kleiner Brunnen and its “nymph.” It’s much prettier in the spring and summer…but, alas Freezing Saddles happens in the winter!
January 23, I did a chill 50km loop with almost 700m of total climbing (yes, there are a lot of hills, big hills, around Stuttgart) that included a nearly 150m winding descent into Gerlingen, the village I used to live in, with the obligatory climb back out just like I used to do on my way to work most days. I stopped int he center of town to capture the bust sculpture of Friedrich Schiller, an important historical figure in the town from the 18th century. The sculpture always looks surreal at night with how the streetlights cast shadows on the face…
January 22, I arrive in Stuttgart (my old home from 2015ish to 2020). Besides riding a lot of the old tracks I still know, I decide to go find pieces of public art, some street paintings and such and of course some striking sculpture. This one is a mural, that has become a bit of a “canvas” for burgeoning street artists, where more established (and in one case a sanctioned) street artists mentor and teach the newcomers. The installations here are frequently in a “Stan Lee” style. It’s an underpass from the Cold War that permitted tanks to transit the forest between two Kaserne by passing under a busy public road between Vaihingen and Boeblingen.
In advance, my apologies to my fellow Public Art Finders. I have been travelling and squeezing in rides in the evenings and posting my art finds has fallen off…so I am here to post 4 in a row to catch up. I hope these bring a small amount of pleasure.
January 21, this is on a wall at the entry to a bicycling/walking bridge (tied into a rail bridge) over the Neckar River in Germany at the town of Ladenburg. Rather than a large mural, it consisted of multiple smaller subjects. They appear to be quite old and weathered, and the bridge has been in place for a long time by its appearance.
January 20, public art on a railway viaduct in Eppegem, Belgium. The Viadict carries the railway over N270 Elewijtsesteenwg as it travels from the village proper out past the Rubenskasteel, the estate of Peter Paul Rubens the Flemish painter (Dutch Master) that dates back to the 1600s, and where he spent his last years.
January 19, De Ontvoering van Europa. Translates to “the kidnapping of Europe.” It’s sits in front of the Flemish Brabant (Vlaams-Brabant) provincial seat (Provinciehuis). Knowing the title of the sculpture doesn’t really explain what is happening…if Europe is the feminine figure, is the bull kidnapping her? Or, is the bull Europe with the woman riding the bull to “rustle” it away?
The Mechelen-Nekkerspoel Station, not the original station, but it sits on the same location of the first train station in Belgium, established in 1835 (Belgium was the second country in Europe with a rail line after England, which if you ask a Brit means Belgium was the first in Europe 😉 ). This station was built from 2021, after the station prior to it, built in 1902, was demolished. The previous station was ugly, despite a facelift in the 1960s. This one is quite beautiful to behold, especially at night, and exudes a modern art aesthetic.
In addition to the front of the station, here’s a shot of the back.
