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Griffon Shears Revisited 2011 & 1997 – Chelsea, NYC

Mar 3rd, 2012
by fadingad.
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© Frank H. Jump 2011

From the Fading Ads of NYC - History Press, 2011 © Frank H. Jump 1997

Posted in: Chelsea, Cutlery, NYC, Walter Grutchfield.

LUCIO DALLA | Rispondimi | (4 March 1943 – 1 March 2012)

Mar 2nd, 2012
by fadingad.
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Lucio Dalla, one of Italy’s most prolific singer-songwriters, died Thursday in Switzerland during a European concert tour. Lucio Dalla, Grand Officer, (4 March 1943 – 1 March 2012) was a popular Italian singer-songwriter and musician. He also played clarinet and keyboards.

Posted in: Eulogies, Lucio Dalla.

Frank Jump @ Greater Astoria Historical Society: Events – Mon Mar 5, 7:00 pm

Mar 2nd, 2012
by fadingad.
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Mon Mar 5, 7:00 pm

Greater Astoria Historical Society
Quinn Building, 35-20 Broadway, 4th Floor
Long Island City, NY 11106
718-278-0700 | info@astorialic.org

New York City is eternally evolving. From its iconic skyline to its side alleys, the new is perpetually being built on the debris of the past.

Fading ads are a beacon in the navigation of an urban life.They weave together the city’s unique history, culture, environment and society and tell the stories of the businesses, places and people whose lives transpired among them – the story of New York itself. Of the thousands of ads photographed, many have faded out of existence, been covered over or destroyed. But still many silently cling to the walls of buildings, barely noticed by the rushing passersby.

Quickly, this effort became a metaphor for survival since, like Jump himself, many of these ads had long outlived their expected life span. Although this campaign doesn’t deal directly with HIV/AIDS, it is no accident that he chose to document such a transitory and evanescent subject.

Frank H. Jump is a New York City artist and educator. Jump’s first major photo-exhibition ran at the New-York Historical Society from August to November of 1998. In the mid-2000’s, Jump and partner Aiosa opened the Fading Ad Gallery in Brooklyn where Jump’s photography was on display. Jump continues his documentation of these remnants of early advertising with the acclaimed Fading Ad Blog, a daily photo-blog featuring images he and Aiosa have taken of ads worldwide as well as the work of other fellow urban archaeologists.

These programs are supported by public funds form the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and NYC Council Member Peter Vallone, Jr. Additional support provided by the membership of the Greater Astoria Historical Society.

Paragon Oil - LIC

Greater Astoria Historical Society: Events.

Posted in: Fading Ads of NYC - the book, Greater Astoria Historical Society.

Borchard Building Management – ULster – 8 Phone Exchange – UWS, NYC

Mar 2nd, 2012
by fadingad.
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© Vincenzo Aiosa

© Vincenzo Aiosa

Posted in: Apartments, Old Telephone Exchanges, Upper West Side NYC.

These Wonderful Vintage New York Ad Murals Are Still Trying To Sell Us Things From The 1800’s – BusinessInsider.com

Mar 1st, 2012
by fadingad.
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All over the city, ads can still be seen that were first painted in the late 1800s or early 1900s. Often they sell goods that no longer exist (horse carriage repairs) or promote once-famous but extinct brands that recall a simpler time (Uneeda Biscuits).

Jump, 37 at the time he began shooting fading ad murals, felt a kinship with the images because in 1984 he had been diagnosed with HIV, at the very beginning of the AIDS epidemic, when most people with the disease soon died. “I am photographing these images that I never expected to live so long, and I never expected to live so long,” he told us. – Jim Edwards

Read more: Business Insider

R.H. Macy’s Uptown Stables at West 148th Street, Harlem. Ad circa 1900s. Macy's would have used the stables to make delivery orders telegraphed to it from the 34th Street store.

These Wonderful Vintage New York Ad Murals Are Still Trying To Sell Us Things From The 1800’s – BusinessInsider.com.

Posted in: Fading Ads of NYC - the book, Ghost signs, ghost ads & other phantoms, Media.

Featured Fade – Studebaker Service Station Revisited – David Silver

Feb 29th, 2012
by fadingad.
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© David Silver

Previously posted on FAB:

Posted in: Auto Mechanics, Crown Heights, Featured Fade, Studebaker.

Hand-painted Faux Show Cards, Wheatpastes & Woody Guthrie the Sign-Painter

Feb 28th, 2012
by fadingad.
1 comment

Contrary to popular mythology, it was with paint brushes in hand, not a guitar, that [Woody] Guthrie hit the road for California. He had hocked his guitar . . . and it was his artistic skills that he brokered for room and board. –Nora Guthrie

For Woody Guthrie dot org © Shepard Fairey, Obey Giant

I’ve had more than my share of time on my hands the last few days – off my feet due to an accident – and I’ve been watching Turner Classics. We watched back-to-back The Grapes of Wrath, based on Steinbeck’s brutal retelling of the Dustbowl era and how big industry exploited American migrant workers during our great economic catastrophe (sound familiar?), and Bound For Glory, the story of Woody Guthrie’s phenomenal yet  humble beginnings of an illustrious career played quite convincingly by David Carradine. During both films, the stark reality of how history repeats itself was made evident – and now yet again the American majority is being exploited by bailed-out banking institutions and holier-than-thou conservative politicians.

Woody Guthrie: Art Works - Rizzoli Books - Authors Steven Brower & Nora Guthrie

As I went walking I saw a sign there – And on the sign it said “No Trespassing.” – But on the other side it didn’t say nothing, – That side was made for you and me. – Alternative verse from This Land is Your Land – Woodie Guthrie

Woody’s first chosen pursuit was painting illustrations and text — he painted signs for businesses to earn a living as a young man before his music became the wellspring of his legacy. As powerful as music can be as medium for social change, the melding of slogans & graphic images has been a powerful and enduring propagandistic tool for both worthy and misguided causes. From Shepard Fairey‘s brilliant Obama Hope Campaign posters to the early hand-painted wall ads for tobacco companies, text and image has been used to persuade, convert, or pervert the masses. Naturally, I was delighted to see Fairey’s “exquisite print” he created for Guthrie’s centennial as a fundraiser when I went to the Official Guthrie Website after seeing the film of his early life. Yet even the simplest urging from a handcrafted store sign or for a sale generated by a stylistic grocery store show card can stop you in your tracks and send you down the aisle looking for a circular coupon. On the Kaufmann Mercantile blog the art of the “snappers,” the slang term that was used to call sign painters, is celebrated and analyzed.

Mixed type and tense lines. From Simplified Show Card Writing, Carl Rousseau Havighorst, 1942 via The Annie Show via Newhouse Books- Kaufmann Mercantile CLICK FOR LINK

Below are the works of who I believe to be a single anonymous snapper who has been posting show cards with wheat paste for ironic and dubious products at bargain prices from the shores of the Gowanus to the wigwams of Tacoma over the last eight years. No clue as to who he or she is but would love to give a proper artists’ credit to the creator of these humors ads with the stylish fonts.

Tacoma Faux Show Card Wheatpaste - Previously posted 8-27-2009 - © Frank H. Jump

Myrtle & Bedford Avenues in August 2005 - Previously posted on FAB on May 4, 2008

Sunset Park Industrial - Hamilton Ave - Previously posted on February 20, 2008 © Frank H. Jump

Other wheatpaste mural art:

Woody Guthrie sites of interest:

Posted in: Ghost signs, ghost ads & other phantoms, Handpainted Signs, Music, Shepard Fairey, Sidewalk Art, Sign Painting & Frescos, Wheat Paste.

Featured Fade – Russian People’s Home of Greenpoint – Miss Heather

Feb 27th, 2012
by fadingad.
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CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE © Miss Heather

106 Clay Street © Miss Heather

Of all the curiosities to be found in the Garden Spot this item, which hails from 106 Clay Street, is by far yours truly favorite. It is not only an absolutely stunning hand-painted sign but it is also a reminder of the people who were here before us. A number of you, dear readers, may not be aware of this but at one time Greenpoint had a rather significant Jewish population. These individuals largely immigrated from Germany, Poland and as the above sign indicates: Russia. Regrettably, 106 Clay Street is probably the only vestige left of these peoples’ existence; when they moved on, they took their culture with them. To cite an example, where the C-Town now stands was once the site of a synagogue. There are others. – Miss Heather, New York Shitty

Elsewhere on the Internet:

Posted in: Greenpoint, Guest Feature, Handpainted Signs, Miss Heather.

Featured Fade – Duco-Dulux – DuPont – Brussels, Belgium – Kovel/Son

Feb 26th, 2012
by fadingad.
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Bergense Steenweg/Chaussée de Mons © Kovel/Son

© Kovel/Son

© Kovel/Son

DuPont has been using Dulux enamel in automotive coatings since 1926. Dulux actually owes its existence to a flaw in its more famous cousin, Duco. This nitrocellulose lacquer first brought color to automobiles when General Motors used it in 1923. It was thick and quick drying, which pleased carmakers, but frustrating for consumers who couldn’t apply it like the oil-based paints they were used to. So DuPont researchers tried mixing synthetic alkyd resins with oil and found that the resulting enamel’s drying time was slower than Duco but faster than that of traditional oil paint. Dulux alkyd resin, named in 1926, also had a pleasing high-gloss look. By the early 1930s it won over consumers under the label Dulux “Brush” Duco.

Dulux high-gloss enamels were also used widely in the 1930s on refrigerators and washing machines, outdoor signs, gasoline service stations and pumps, and railroad cars. Once tried as an undercoating for Duco auto paint, Dulux also found a niche as a low-cost alternative to Duco auto finishes. In 1954 some automobile manufacturers chose an improved Dulux alkyd enamel over Duco, and over DuPont’s new water-based Lucite® acrylic lacquer. However, Lucite® soon pulled ahead in household sales, and after DuPont developed a new acrylic polymer in 1957, Lucite® also outshone Dulux in the appliance and industrial markets. DuPont sold its consumer paint business in 1983. – DuPont dot com

Posted in: Brussels BE, Guest Contributor, Paints.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2012-02-26

Feb 26th, 2012
by fadingad.
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Posted in: Ghost signs, ghost ads & other phantoms.
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