moonsignnyc

There’s a whole lot to love about the in Cincinnati. Not least of which are the many stunning examples of what is commonly called commercial art: visual manifestations of American commerce, the elements of which hold peculiar power even when removed from their original context. With arcs of colored glass, painted knife-sharp letterforms, pressed enamels, painted glass, carved wood and graphic characters - the Sign Museum doubles as a kind of riotous sculpture garden.
There’s also the experience of watching visitors’ warm and personal reactions to the signs - as if they were long lost friends running into each other on the street. Maybe its nostalgia for an era before everything and everyone was itself a brand, but there is something less cynical happening too: a reciprocal warmth bouncing between people and these light emitting objects. I felt it myself at seeing the Clover Deli for the first time since it left New York in 2021. A beacon of Second avenue, strangely displaced and simultaneously at home.
Huge thanks to Todd and the entire ASM team for everything they are doing here.

Sometimes we design things and then make things and I have honestly no idea where they go or what they’re for.
Feel free to insert meaning into this mighty real news cycle.