Following on from last weeks successful 4 Letter Word, the popup Lower Fi Collective series is about to wrap up, but not without a banged out slew of letters, type and all things alphabetical.

This ones something different, and pays homeage to something that we love and feel passionate about – the dying art of hand painted signage. Funnily enough, two of our favourite blogs at the moment have been documenting all of the old hand painted signage around the city (Finding The Radio Book and Type:Melbourne), so when we saw this show up in Sydney paying homage to this threatened genre of art, we were immediately intrigued.

“Sign painting has a very long history within the realm of “artisans-crafts”. Historically, apprenticeships were the means of learning the craft. Though many, in the earlier history of the craft were self-taught. An apprenticeship could last for years, depending on the skill of the apprentice and the knowledge of the “master”. The skills learned were varied and some quite complex. Learning to manipulate a lettering brush was the core of the learning process. This skill alone could take years to master.

With the advent of the computer and various kinds of software now available the sign painting craft has been displaced with computer driven sign making machines. The “craft” has all but disappeared, and in only a few “technical schools” or specialty schools is the craft still taught. Sign painters are usually self-taught and/or taught by mentors in the business. This is because Sign Painting is rarely offered in schools/universities, which in turn is the reason it could considered a dying trade. “Sign Language” is an exhibition of a younger generation whom embrace the practices of traditional sign painting.”

Some names are familiar to us, and some are new, but one thing is for sure – they are all lovers and purveyors of sign writing, art and champions of the original “street art”.

Such a great show to wrap up the Lower-Fi series, wish we could be there to see it.

Who: Edward Woodley, Dave Frey, Chow Cracker, Gary Msk, Gemma O’brien, Kaone, Lance Corlett, Numskull, Roachi, Will Lynes
What: Sign Language
Where: Lower-Fi Collective popup space, @ The Stables7-9 Lt Bourke St, Surry Hills
When: Show opens Thursday 6th December from 6pm til 9pm.

Check out the Lo-Fi Collective website for more details, or the Facebook event page!