I just came across this whilst browsing the archives of the very fabulous Ministry of Type.
“Up There” is a documentary based on the work of the very few painters who still create hand-painted signage on buildings, often mostly in New York and LA (I imagine this is because of visibility and budget for such things don’t exist in other cities). It’s beautifully filmed – a great stage to tell the story of an artform that is quickly becoming obsolete as digitally printed vinyl takes over.
When I was living in midtown Manhattan, I used to marvel at a sign for Patron tequila a few blocks from my apartment (this one, courtesy of flickr user “n8dawg412″). The fact that it was obviously hand-painted just seemed so impossible to me. I mean, it was huge. I couldn’t even begin to fathom the work that went into it – even though I saw it slowly taking shape over the course of a number of weeks.
