Sam Roberts

To paint or not to paint: preservation debate over Tempe ‘eyesore’

The ghostsigns on this flour mill have sparked debate over the desirability of a whitewashing as part of planned developments. In this article [Link expired], local architect Robert Graham makes the case for the ghostsigns: “To paint over these features would be like refinishing a treasured piece of antique furniture — it may make it look […]

29 Mar 2012
The history of the Johnston typeface: Sign Design Society event

HAT archive contributor Mike Ashworth is giving an illustrated talk about the London Underground Johnston typeface next week on Tuesday, 3rd April. More details in the pdf below and on the Sign Design Society website. Followers of this site are eligible for a small discount, just make sure you quote ‘ghostsigns’ when you email enquiries@signdesignsociety.co.uk […]

28 Mar 2012
The beauty of cracking paint on Paris’ trompes l’oeil

Adam at Invisible Paris has written this blog post about the changing state of the city’s trompes l’oeil. This example in partticular caught my eye, the craking and peeling of the paint creating something new from something old. It is similar to the way that some ghostsigns deteriorate, with the paint sitting on the surface of […]

27 Mar 2012
Graphic DNA documents the visual language of the street

I’ve recently been in regular contact with Geraldine Marshall whose project, Graphic DNA, caught my attention. It is the topic of her PhD thesis, under the supervision of Dr Caroline Archer. I took the opportunity, before she gets too busy, to ask Geraldine some questions at her base in the Midlands, from mine in South […]

25 Mar 2012
Mapping San Francisco’s Ghostsigns

This project [Link expired] is seeking to create a comprehensive google map of ghostsigns in San Francisco. It is run by Kasey Smith of the Perception Filter blog (recommended) and has already made significant progress. Many of the stories surrounding the documented signs are published on the blog, including the reveal of the one pictured […]

25 Mar 2012
Frank Jump leads a guided tour of Greenpoint, New York

Frank Jump led this tour last week to raise awareness of the ‘fading ads’ in this part of New York. I was a bit slow off the mark to preview it but fortunately Jeremiah at Fading New York did just that and used the opportunity to ask Frank a few questions about his passion for […]

24 Mar 2012
Parkinsons Pills signs from across the UK: ‘They will buck you up’!

This is a great set of photos for the Parkinsons Pills brand from a site dedicated to the company. A couple of these appear in the archive but the others are new to me, including one where the photographer claims to have got bored part way through restoring it. A follow up post reveals this […]

23 Mar 2012
Before the secret lemonade drinker there was this Willesden Ghostsign

Another great discovery and background research from Sebastien here for a brand whose most memorable advertising was probably this:

22 Mar 2012
Lovely painted wall in Sydney absinthe bar

Spotted on the BBC.

21 Mar 2012
Four layers of Dubonnet palimpsest

Great discovery here from Sebastien in which he has identified four signs for the same brand vying for position on the same wall. There’s a great gallery of French ghost signs here (Dubonnet here) and my posts on the country are here with additional photos in this Flickr set.

20 Mar 2012
Design agency OPX launches London Typographica

This site [Link expired] from OPX is aiming to build a map of lettering forms of all sorts from across the capital. These include chisselled stone, hand painted signs, plaques, shop fronts, in fact just about anything that has letters and can be seen at street level in London. It’s a bit of a lottery […]

19 Mar 2012
Sebastien Ardouin discovers another RIP in Sheen Lane, Richmond

Another one bites the dust here.

18 Mar 2012
Chicago Ghostsigns mapped online and photographed for thesis

This website [Link expired] allows you to browse locations in Chicago and find the neighbourhood ghostsigns there. It was created by Nicole Donohoe for her thesis and has some great examples from this city which I haven’t previously seen many signs from. I’m not sure if the project is still active but there is a […]

17 Mar 2012
Hand painted wall signs and murals from Hungary

József László is an artist in Budapest, Hungary, specialising in photo-real hand painted advertising, other hand painted wall advertising and murals. His work impressed me so I thought I’d share some of the pictures he sent me. Some of these remind me of Colossal Media’s work, some are more like the signs I saw in Bangladesh, and […]

16 Mar 2012
Flag Makers sign in San Francisco faces uncertain future

Photo: Joe Thompson This blog post signals a likely future RIP for this ghostsign in San Francisco.

15 Mar 2012
Woody Guthrie’s less well known vocation as a signwriter

Frank Jump has alerted me to this interesting insight into the folk singer’s first occupation. Is this another way in which he has influenced Bob Dylan is his line of work as a visual artist?

14 Mar 2012
Spokane Students Hunt for Ghost Signs in ‘An Experiment in Public History Pedagogy’

The Public History students of Spokane have been set this brief which will get them out into the town to photograph the various ghost signs there. They’ll also have to use various historical sources to uncover the stories of the companies advertised by the signs and the people who painted them. It looks set to […]

13 Mar 2012
Vernacular Typography interviewed by Vanishing New York

Photo: Molly Woodward, Vernacular Typography Read the interview here. Further good news is that this project is now fully funded so expect more news in the coming months…

12 Mar 2012
Rick Janzen of Streamline Studios creates a ‘ghostsign’ from scratch

Photos: Rick Janzen This photo essay shows the various stages in recreating the effect of a ghostsign using water-based paints (the rest of the blog is worth checking out too, especially this post and this one). This appears to be a different technique to that employed by Colossal Media at the end of this video. […]

11 Mar 2012
Writing on the Wall working to preserve and restore ghostsigns in the Netherlands

This organisation in the Netherlands was established in 1999 and has been working ever since to raise the profile of hand painted wall advertising in the country. They also get involved with other outdoor forms such as hanging signs and neon advertisements, but the main focus is Ghostsigns, especially their restoration and protection. A lot […]

9 Mar 2012
Grandma’s Boy sign in Vancouver is no more, RIP

This is the scene at the central Vancouver intersection where this sign enjoyed an unexpected two weeks’ of fame following the destruction of the adjacent building. A nice collection of photos documenting the brief rise, and rapid fall, of the sign in this Vancouver Sun photo collection

8 Mar 2012
1996 fire reveals two ghostsigns in Columbus, Ohio

Photo: udhcmh Documentation of the exposure resulting from fire on Ohio State University land in 1996.

7 Mar 2012
The Swear: ‘Ghost Signs’

My web crawlers sometimes throw up completely unexpected references to ghostsigns, this one being a song by gothic rockers, The Swear. I contacted singer/songwriter Elizabeth Elkins to ask if there was any connection to Ghostsigns of the painted form and sure enough there was… “Ghost Signs takes the idea of physical ghost signs and turns […]

5 Mar 2012
Faded Paint: Trailer for forthcoming signpainting documentary

The Colossal Media Facebook page recently alerted me to this trailer (see below) uploaded by Rick Janzen about a film he’s making about the declining art and craft of signwriting. This will add to the work done by the Signpainter Movie team. Faded Paint – The Vanishing Sign Painter from Rick janzen on Vimeo. You can see some of the […]

4 Mar 2012