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 readingBusiness Name Saga
This comment from the business name page deserves featuring since it is an instance of the all-important “things” concept. Tracy Says: July 19th, 2006 at 11:04 am We have “Taste Good” Chinese Restaurant here, and there’s this place that was called “Ying’s” and then he added more and called it “Ying’s Wings”. That wasn’t enough, though, it became “Ying’s Wings and Things”. That was before he built the bar area. The name now? “Ying’s Wings, Things and Bar”.Here’s their website: http://www.yingswingsthings.com/
Continue readingI heart my laptop, for a brief shining moment
Today a marketing research video showed a respondent talking about her laptop. Her affection was so palpable that, as the analysis pointed out, it looked like she was ready to embrace it. And for good reason. It truly is not just a unit for computing. It’s the place where she keep so much that is important by any fair measure — probably all the pictures of who she loves and where she’s been, all the music she listens to, all the phone numbers she calls. It’s got all the letters she’s written, and most of the answers. It’s where she
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 readingField Museum Shrunken Heads
It was behind-the-scenes night at the Field Museum in Chicago and the anthropology department had staff members displaying some of its wares. Here was my chance to ask the question that had been bothering me for years: What had happened to the shrunken heads? Like the baloney people and fetuses at the Museum of Science and Industry and the Ivan Albright paintings at the Art Institute, the Field Museum’s shrunken heads were a crucual rite of passage for generations of Chicago kids. A staffer answered that they were in storage — at least they hadn’t been thrown out. The museum
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