Sign Painters

This most engaging documentary comes recommended by a highly talented painter and lady friend who, though she has repeatedly rebuffed my invitations to be the next Lady Barken, I feel is beginning to weaken in her resolve.

You don’t need to be a painter to enjoy this movie, or even interested in art. Though both would all be to the good, the real point to me is a favorite around here: the need to return to and revive the old art forms, the old crafts, all the old stuff that had a human texture, a warm surface, and a depth of time on it.

How is that done? This film answers that question: by doing it, simple as that. Naturally the real world presents obstacles and inconvenience; never mind, there’s a nobility in doing things right, to last. We’ve got a whole movie here of people doing just that, from all backgrounds and ages. They paint signs because they love it and think it makes the world a little brighter, which it does.

Same thing can be done across the board. This is not a luddite thing; it’s about the spirit of the work and doing things by hand again, but computers and new tech can be adapted. But it should serve and not dictate: as it has in the movies with the awfulness of so much CGI. As a musician, I’m applying this by recording my next record without a computer at all. Which is pretty damn daring these days! But that’s one way to capture the real human touch and leave it to show, proudly, not stuffed into a digital grid.