Farrell: Mystery artist paints flowers on manhole covers, messages on signs in Beaufort
While an ersatz Johnny Depp had some Beaufort residents on high and hormonal alert last week, another not-real celebrity went largely unnoticed.
Fake Banksy made his appearance sometime overnight Thursday and painted big, cheerful yellow flower petals around five manhole covers along Port Republic Street, ending with some stenciled messages on the backs of no-parking signs at a bank.
(A bank, see? A bank. See? Banksy? No?)
The messages were brightly colored and faced Port Republic, providing a neat conclusion for anyone who followed the trail of flowers on the hunt for some adventure.
"You're never too young to dream big."
"What did you do to save the world today?"
"Are you living your dream?"
The branch manager of the Wells Fargo at Port Republic and Charles streets wasn't exactly living his dream Monday when he and I went into the parking lot so he could see the signs for himself only to walk right into Harwood Weatherly, who was there from Wells Fargo in Charleston to do an unrelated property inspection.
A property inspection! Today! What are the odds?
"Well," Zach Pickering said after Weatherly told him why he was there. "You should probably come with us then."
When they saw the signs they said, "Oh wow" and "I've never seen anything like this." The security guard who was walking around the parking lot offered them a quick and pre-emptive "I just started today."
Within seconds, Weatherly called a guy named James to take care of the problem.
Is it vandalism or art?, I asked Weatherly.
"We have corporate standards," he said.
(By the way, for those of you who dabble in Southern-themed romance novel writing, I've just handed you an amazing character name: "Harwood Weatherly arrived on a white horse with a can of paint remover ... Daddy didn't approve.")
Around this time last year, blue benches by an unnamed local artist appeared mysteriously along Port Republic Street. The city removed them shortly after because of an ordinance that prohibits the obstruction of sidewalks and rights-of-way without permission.
What. A. Bummer.
I asked around to see if anyone in the Port Republic vicinity or in the Beaufort arts community knew anything about the flowers. I got nothing. No one would fess up. No one would even offer guesses other than "maybe the bench guy?"
But everyone thought it was cool.
On Monday, Lamar Taylor of the city's public works department wouldn't say for sure whether the flowers will be painted over. He said he first needed to know more about why the flowers were there and who did it.
Beaufort City Police spokeswoman Hope Able said a report would be filed and sent over to Taylor's office if removal is warranted.
Assuming Fake Banksy didn't have a permit for this public act of art, it's safe to say the happy flowers will likely be covered with black paint sometime in the near future.
Yes, it's quite sad but that's how this works.
The real Banksy, who set off a New York City-wide treasure hunt each day of his monthlong "artist in residence" in 2013, proved that street art is an act of rebellion meant to be experienced in the present, in the moments before the law catches up, before the greed monsters come to carve it away and sell it for their own profit, before society changes it to fit its needs.
Its temporary nature and its tenuous ownership is part of the act. Without the rules -- without the ordinance -- there is no boundary for street artists to push. It's just coloring in the lines.
Taylor first saw the flowers on Monday morning, at the beginning of a long day of budget planning.
"I thought 'What in the world?," he laughed.
"It's beautiful ... if they have permission."
Follow columnist and senior editor Liz Farrell at twitter.com/elizfarrell and facebook.com/elizfarrell.
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This story was originally published March 30, 2015 at 5:51 PM with the headline "Farrell: Mystery artist paints flowers on manhole covers, messages on signs in Beaufort."