A National Geographic article from 2001 lamented the loss art of sign painting: “Pete Toth used to be one of a dozen or so billboard sign painters in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley. But the lean, goatee-wearing painter is among a dying breed in America. Now, Toth will tell you, “I’m a dinosaur.” Just as the dinosaurs were killed by the Ice Age, the Mice Age-the computer mouse-has all but killed billboard sign painters.” The article continued: “Computers gave advertisers standardized ads and a quicker turnaround time for the ads. Some billboards that would have taken a painter several days to create could be made by computer in 90 minutes. Standardized reproduction allowed national advertisers to have the same ad displayed in different cities at the same time. It also gave advertisers a better option in markets where painters weren’t as skillful as Toth (it isn’t always easy to make a 10-foot hamburger look appetizing).”
Today the sign painter is as rare as an honest politician. What got me thinking about sign painters, and I’ve worked with some really good ones, is a visit to my childhood neighbourhood shop this morning. I took the picture above on my blackberry and that entire Coca Cola shop signage is made up of adhesive vinyl, designed and cut using a computer programme. I remember Ronald Chin working for weeks on Stag’s Carnival signage and banners. And Enrique Seijas could turn a passport size picture into a 40 foot masterpiece. Bran, one of Enrique’s students was also a master. In T&T they are almost all gone.
They have all been replaced by digital solutions. Is that what us press/radio/tv advertising folks can look forward to? Or are we already dinosaurs?
