In an era when pawnbrokers and pastry chefs can sustain reality television series—and a typeface can be the star of its own documentary feature-—a cinematic delve into the world of American sign painting hardly seems like an edgy proposition. What makes Sign Painters such a curiously magnetic work is the heady mixture of intensity and breeziness in the approach employed by co-directors Faythe Levine and Sam Macon. Like the array of idiosyncratic artists featured in their expressive and slightly bittersweet feature, the filmmakers assume a stance that is earnest about the importance of handmade signage, while also maintaining a tradesperson's blunt outlook. As one old timer memorably asserts, the credo of the modern painter is, “It's Only a F—ing Sign.”
This sense of acidic pragmatism leavens Sign Painters' otherwise swooning affection for handmade advertisements and for the artisans whose perfectionist vigor is a retort to the age of computer-generated, machine-cut vinyl lettering. Flitting between cities and small towns across the nation, the film interviews crotchety paint-flecked veterans, tattooed Young Turks, and a variety of eccentrics and academics with a passion for first-class brushwork. Levine and Macon keep the film lively and engaging by focusing on colorful anecdotes and painters' common passion for their art form. While the feature generally regards the decline of handcrafted signage with disapproval, its tone is overwhelmingly optimistic, positioning the discipline within the larger context of waxing interest in all things artisanal, do-it-yourself, and handmade.
Sign Painters will screen for one night only at Tivoli Theatre, on Thursday, October 10. Tickets are available online, or at the door. The screening will be presented by Ben Kiel, a St. Louis-based type designer and owner of Typefounding, LLC.
