Pool of Tears Hiroshima Print

This series was inspired while in Japan where I observed a common mass-produced structure beneath my feet; the Japanese utility lid. The Japanese see the value of art in something as lowly as a utility cover. While other nations mass-produce banal iron circles by the thousands, the Japanese create objects of art. Public art is crucial to keeping urban life vibrant and interesting, but outdoor space is too often reserved for advertising or covered in graffiti of dubious artistic merit. Japan, however, has capitalized on an unusual canvas for a unique genre of public art; the lowly utility cover.