Genuine Authentic Hand Painted Signs

Description

On Thursday, February 10 2011, 7-10pm, peek gallery at The Summit invites you to the Opening Reception of it's latest exhibition, GENUINE AUTHENTIC HAND PAINTED SIGNS, featuring over one hundred sixty individually hand-painted signs by NEW BOHEMIA SIGNS, a San Francisco based collective of designers and sign writers who appreciate the art of good looking hand-painted signs. They paint letters the old fashioned way - with a brush, some paint, and a steady hand. Since 1993, New Bohemia Signs have been beautifying neighborhoods all over the Bay Area, and peek gallery is thrilled to feature their beautiful handmade work for it's second show. GENUINE AUTHENTIC HAND PAINTED SIGNS runs from February 10 - March 24 2011 at peek gallery inside The Summit, 780 Valencia Street, San Francisco CA.



Thursday, February 10 2011
peek gallery at The Summit presents
GENUINE AUTHENTIC HAND PAINTED SIGNS
a group show by NEW BOHEMIA SIGNS
Opening Reception @ peek gallery at The Summit
780 Valencia Street, San Francisco
all ages | 7-10pm | FREE

crafted by
AARON CRUSE • CAITLYN GALLOWAY • DAMON STYER CORINNE MATESICH • HEATHER HARDISON • JEFF CANHAM JOSH LUKE • KEN DAVIS • CANDICE OBAYASHI

Artiste's Statement
To call these signs genuine and authentic practically begs people to differ. Everyone's got their own unique boundaries of authenticity, some of whose surely exclude our work on some technicality or other--if it's not the cheat of drawing patterns first, maybe it's the Electropounce™ that has replaced our hand-spun pattern wheels, or if not that, it's certainly our top secret computerized pattern generator, busily yearning to put our Electropounce™ out to pasture. Technicality--or technology, rather--projects one of the spectrums along which many of us might be able to locate a line (perhaps fuzzy) between authentic and not.

Clients have often called upon us to hand paint letters and logos that were never designed to be hand painted, for no other reason, near as we can tell, than the hope that, in the end, they might "look hand painted". We've had customers use the phrase "more authenticity", in describing what they were coming to us looking for in a sign, while providing us with digital files to work from, which themselves bore no particularly hand wrought characteristics. What is it about what we do that implies to our clients, or to their clients, something genuine and authentic?

For better or worse, everything we produce at New Bohemia Signs is ultimately realized at the end of a hand-held paint brush. We are limited, I suppose, by our choice of tools, and the quality of our practice. The "weak link" in our production line is in our capacity to render an internally envisioned ideal, with our given set of body parts. I have to guess that that point of reduction, to humanity, to human frailty, is where we're able to lay any claim to authenticity in what we do. It's from there, at any rate, that we're able to sell authenticity to whoever's buying. I've described that point elsewhere as "the joy of fine tuning the only copier that draws its current directly from our hearts". I liked that line then, so I'll use it again, and see how it fits here. That's how sign painting often works. Copy, trace, cut and paste. Whatever technological accoutrements are called upon to speed our work (or hamper our authenticity), it all passes through a needle's eye, that of aesthetic judgement, of steady hand eye coordination, and practice, practice, practice.

We're hoping, through this show, to call people's attention to their own standards for genuineness and authenticity, and to spark some conversations about how they (and we) do or don't manifest or recognize them. Or, at the very least we'll decorate the place with a slew of genuine authentic hand painted signs.

~ Damon Styer, New Bohemia Signs

About the Artists
Candice Obayashi lives in San Francisco. When practicing her casual alphabet, her favorite is R.

Jeff Canham is half artist, half designer and half sign painter.

Heather Hardison strives to turn the perfect letter O. When not practicing alphabets as an apprentice at NBS, she illustrates and
makes pop-up books.

Damon Styer started apprenticing at New Bohemia Signs in June of '99, having resolved to "develop a creative work ethic" in himself. By year's end, by fate and fancy, he owned it.

Corinne Matesich spills ink and shreds pencils. She is an illustrator, and an apprentice with New Bohemia Signs. She likes the tight corners and angles of M and N the best.

Josh Luke, after half a decade stroking the boards at New Bohemia, has launched Best Dressed Signs, in Boston.

Aaron Cruse is an alphabetician and designer still working towards the perfect chisel point. He prefers letters with a tail.

Ken Davis lives to paint. On occasion he has been known to take a break from working to ride his skateboard. His favorite letter is G, followed closely by a row of Rs.

About The Summit
The Summit presents an artisan approach to modern café culture: featuring Blue Bottle Coffee and artisanal tea; offering craft beers and local wines; and serving conceptually creative cuisine. As a gathering place for like-minds, The Summit also functions as an art space called peek gallery.

Inspired by Ray Oldenburg’s "Third Space" concept which states that society needs a place away from home (First Space) and work (Second Space). Third Spaces are "Anchors of Community Life and facilitate and foster broader, more creative interaction." Societies across the world have third spaces that manifest themselves as coffee houses, pubs, plazas, etc. The Summit is the ultimate Third Space.

Located in the unique I/O Ventures incubation space, The Summit is home to 40+ telecommuters and 4 startups, which receive mentorship and funding from leaders in the tech industry. I/O Ventures is backed by the founders of seminal tech companies: MySpace, BitTorrent, and YouTube. The Summit is their public living room.

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newbohemiasigns.com

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