(Photo: Michael Surtees)

4. NEW DIRECTIONS IN SIGNAGE
Wooden Girl (Lafayette Street) and DOM Showrooms sign (66 Crosby Street)

“When I first saw this girl, I wondered if it might be an image from an actual brand. But it’s not—this is the work of a street artist named Matt Siren. But I only know this from doing my own digging online. In terms of a brand campaign, Siren has a lot of bases covered—there are stickers, posters, a Website. But this wood character, screwed to the street sign, how often do you see that? The artist is repurposing the street sign and taking a lot of time to do so—it’s got the clean lines that I’m seeing elsewhere and which indicate good craftsmanship. There’s a lot of effort that goes into creating something like this: Make the illustration, place it on wood, cut it, and then find a suitable signpost. You have to screw it in by hand—you are more likely to get caught doing it. Looking at the dom sign—it’s the same kind of sturdy, 3-D wood sign hanging well above eye level. But, when the store is shuttered, who knows what DOM is? [It’s a design showroom.] Again, the bright colors and simple lines come into play—they are using circles, triangles, and squares to create a sophisticated but discreet image.”

Related:

• Archive: “Art Features”
• Articles by Emma Pearse
• Table of Contents: Aug 20, 2007 issue of New York | Subscribe!