Beat Street : Sign of the times

Anyone who knows me knows that I love hand painted signs. The older, the rustier, the more decayed or broken down, the better. Honestly, I've never really understood what my fixation with old hand-painted signs is about. Maybe, it's that I see them as reminder of a time where even the simplest of words, phrases or pictures were painted. Or, maybe it's a kind of reverence for people who made their living from this as an art form. Anyway, I love to document them because hand painted signs are very prevalent in my neighborhood and I figure that I need to do it now, before gentrification takes over.

The Dying Art Of Hand-Painted Ads

Throughout our graphics and general branding, you’ll typically see references to handpainted typography or design. I have always been fascinated by the connection between advertising and art. The latter is a major element in the world of selling — its the face of a company’s product. It is the creatives: graphic designers, illustrators, photographers, etc. — who are charged with creating the visual identities of corporations like Apple and Starbucks.

So when I watched The documentary titled Up There, it got me thinking a lot about design. The film takes a look at the dying art of hand-painted advertisements through the stories of a group of New York painters. As someone who loves art I often yearn for a little bit more genuine craft to return to the industry. This was a nice reminder that it does still exist somewhere.