For Hire: Contemporary Sign Painting in America

at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft

In 2017, my long-time accomplice and great friend, Forrest Wozniak, and I were invited to contribute to a group show of sign painting at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. In keeping with the tradition of the tongue-in-cheek angle of sign painting in the art world: we conjured up an impromptu trompe l’oeil real scale mural of a ragged little sign shop. We spent 3 days onsite improvising our scene: a central work bench adorned with splatters of paint, warm up lettering, test strokes, & color blends, a collection of old signs (including a locally famous sign for a cheap barber) that might have been found in decrepit urban lots, a metal shelf with beat up cans of paint, a trusty overhead projector, a antique metal waste bin, a reliable padded stool, a fire safety cabinet, and, finally, a faux unfinished drywall job for our background. In our piece, we hoped to portray a kinetic production space with a feel of perpetual creative motion. The work bench as a focal point serves as both an abstract piece of art and a diary of skill and knowledge gained as it represents all the contract that come and go in our work flow as sign painters. The whole mural speaks to our sense of joy we experience in our studios (Forrest and I have shared several in the past), our shared humor as friends, and a nod to the trusty staples of any sign shop. While there are certainly are many more tools that can be added to the repertoire of any art studio, the simple collection you see here could make a decent living for years to come. For Hire: Contemporary Sign Painting in America featured industry sign artists Ken Davis, Norma Jean Maloney, Starr Studios, Mystic Blue Signs, Bob Behounek, Shelby Rodeffer, and guest curators Faythe Levine & Sam Macon.