2D Tool box?

On every street in Dublin I was noticing a recurring theme, a symbol of some sort? A large scale street art project? Somebody with a lot of time on their hands? A rebrand of the city centre? I was fascinated and intrigued by these wrench icons! Why, was the question on my mind.

And I was not the only one asking this question! Several Dublin bloggers were debating the topic. I read several of their theories...one seemingly well thought out and educated guess was that an anonymous artist was making a mark and a political statement...
"a wrench connotes solidity and heft, and thus the wrench's absence forces us to feel the mass of that which is not there...It informs a self-referential dialogue between the seemingly tactile and the literally immaterial. Or there is the heavily symbolic interpretation, seeing the wrench as the symbol of the working man being trampled on by a "self-obsessed citizenry."

Quote taken from http://rosemaryhines.blogspot.com/2011/06/dublin-street-art.html

And so I did my own research and discovered that the ubiquitous, recurring pattern of a sprayed wrench silhouette was not the work of some inspired creative; but in fact the Gardai!! Yes the Irish police force have been graffitting the streets of Dublin, and the reason...a visit from the Queen Elizabeth II!

I found the icon of the simple workman's tool on the streets of Dublin fascinating and they intrigued me from the first day I saw them, I didn't expect however the wide interest and varying theories on the wrenches. And so when I found out their actual function I thought it was brilliant! The Gardai checked every single manhole, electricity box, fire hydrant in the city centre before the Queen's visit and sealed them when deemed secure. The wrench was a sign that it was signed, sealed and secured!

This was something so ordinary and quite mundane yet it intrigued people and raised questions.