What is the appeal of typologies? (Here, fire hydrants of Taos, New Mexico.) Is it bringing things across geography and squishing them together visually? Is it the delight of seeking and finding? Or maybe it is the joy at human inventiveness within specific limitations? Wonderful examples abound. The Water Towers and other works by Bernd and Hilla Becher are a famous art world instance. I also enjoy the Used to Be a Pizza Hut project, chronicling what has become of vintage former Pizza Hut buildings with their singular shape and roof. (This was before the era of the boxy Pizza Hut building.) And Japanese manhole covers? Amazing. In the early days of the pandemic, I lingered at an artist residency in Taos, New Mexico. As I wandered mostly empty streets, I was struck by the variety of fire hydrants. Different colors, different shapes, some covered with trash bags or caution tape or decorated with liquor bottles — I was constantly stumbling on what seemed like an endless variety of them across the town. Curious, I asked a friendly fireman what was going on. He replied, “Oh, different colors are for different levels of flow, and some of the hydrants are so old they don’t meet the official standards… They still work, but we gotta mark ’em so we know which are which.” Apparently, with fire line tape! And I’m happily reminded, we are all artists.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: CORWIN LEVI
Corwin is a visual artist working in design, illustration, bookmaking, curating, and writing. As an artist, he has attended over twenty artist residencies. He has also have lived in eighteen cities across twelve states. Along with Michelle Aldredge, he co-created Mirror Mirrored: An Artists’ Edition of 25 Grimms’ Tales. He is currently remixing vintage game boards and making a book from illustrations of Alice in Wonderland.
