Sunday, July 31, 2011

Signs


So a friend of mine put out the call to take sign photos. She wanted to be inspired by text for a art project she is part of, but I took it to the next level and took pictures of all cool signs me or DH saw. It turns out it was very inspiring journey for me too and I have some thing to share about some of the images. For those of you that would like to see more I have set up a flickr set for just signs, and I will be adding to it.
 This first image is always shocking to me - and I have seen it quite a bit. The "not recommended for pregnant woman" symbol. I suppose what shocks me is that I am used to being from a country where all of the warnings are just text. Here in the EU where a product is distributed to many countries with many languages a picture warnings make sense. (This would make a great embroidery project...just saying.)
 This next sign is the logo for a Catalonian restaurant chain here in Madrid. It is of a man in historical Cataloian dress drinking out of a "Porro" a Catolonian drinking vessel. (It obviously takes some practice to drink like this, and no I have never tried it...red wine stains badly.) Anyway the first thing I thought of when I saw this was "needle-point canvas". It is painted on a grid already.
 I apparently LOVE  Gothic font signs, I took a lot of photos of them. I have a feeling that bars in the center of Madrid like the font too as all of these Gothic font photos were either on a bar or on a Belgian beer bottle. I took all of the photos in and around Calle Mayor yesterday.
 I just love how so many places have signs here made of interlocking tiles.
 A lot of the street signs in this area are made of tiles with descriptive images. This sign reads "Street of Embroiders".
 I think that you have to look hard to make it out, but the "graffiti" on this store is the name of the store too. Note the graffiti scissors - too cool.
 This Gothic loveliness was painted directly on the window with cool Gothic images, reminding of old monastery texts. This is apparently the Museum of Galicia - maybe a trip for another day.
 Another shot of the street signs - yes my American friends this is the only indication of the streets names, no sign posts here. The first one seems to my DH to mean "Street of the Lined (animals)" and the second one is the "Street of the Farriers".
 I like the simple lines here, I also love how one tine of one of the forks is missing.
 " Attention! The price of the menu is up to you! ps Don't be shy to ask"
 A beer demi-God and his Maiden.
A fancy version of the symbol of Madrid inlaid in the sidewalk.

I hope I have passed on an inspiration to create!

2 comments:

  1. I love them ! Especially, yes, the one that you ought to make into embroidery. Makes me think I want to go out and photograph signs from my town and area (Napa Valley). Would be an awesome group collaborative, wouldn't it?

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  2. LOVE!!! Damn, girl, you know how to walkabout and find inspiration! Thank you for sharing these with me. Sooooo many inspiring ideas to be harvested, here. And a collaborative project of signs from various places, as mentioned by your other commenter... awesome idea, don't you think? You rock, little red.

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