Devon Avenue is another Chicago street where creativity explodes from storefronts.
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The Gyros Project 2007 Calendar
Fast food is not the usual subject of creative vision, but the gyros signs of Chicago are masterpieces of prosaic art. This calendar features photos from The Gyros Project. You can order a copy here.
Continue readingThe Last Folk Hero: Collector Bill Arnett’s art world martyrdom
A review of the recent book about Bill Arnett, one of the most important collectors and advocates of self-taught art from the South. Meanwhile, the sad news arrived that Mose Tolliver, one of the best-known southern black artists of the last century, died Monday.
Continue readingNew Signs From Around the Loop
Economically marginal businesses haven’t been pushed entirely out from the area around Chicago’s Loop. That’s good news for interesting signage.
Continue readingNew Signs
Check out a bunch of great new signs from coast to coast.
Continue readingRoadside Art Online: Signs of a Deep South Drive
The creativity on display from Florida to Chicago can’t be beat. There are two new pages of roadside signage, the second devoted to Albany, Georgia, a great example of how lean times can preserve a certain slice of our visual culture.
Continue readingCharming eyesores: The Georgian Burglar Alarms of Dublin’s Doors
Yes, the Georgian doorways are charming, especially given that the Georgian facades are otherwise remarkably spare. These buildings could be 20th Century low-rent apartment blocks if not for the massive chimneys and lovely doors. That makes the prominent addition of burglar alarms even more striking, with the alarm boxes typically placed immediately adjacent to the door.
Continue readingWestern Avenue Art Gallery: The Suburbs
The same artistic brilliance to be found on Chicago’s city roadsides is abundant in its older suburbs.
Continue readingRIP Don Knotts, comic genius
Don Knott’s death Friday at 81 is a great loss, even though Knotts’ real talent will hardly receive its just appreciation amidst the inevitable references to Barney Fife and Mr. Furley. Although the Barney character certainly deserves the accolades it receives, Mr. Furley encapsulates much of the tragedy that dogs brilliant comedians. Thus Knotts achieved a kind of perfection on the Andy Griffith Show, and amazingly extended it further in a series of movies that Hollywood unfortuately pegged to the children’s market. But those movies, forced like many of the Marx Brothers’ best films into a fundamentally compromised format, allowed
Continue readingSignage Update
I’ve added some new signs in the course of reorganizing how I present them. I’ve mostly separated Chicagoland signs from the rest of the world and I’ve reorganized most of Western Avenue Art Gallery signs into geographical pages rather than thematic. This makes it far more likely that I’ll get signs posted, since it makes them much easier to post. Check out the four new groups: Western Avenue Clark Street Pilsen Varieties
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