Anodyne
Sunday, October 19, 2014
 
Archive of Vernacular Snapshots of Road Signs in California - See more at: http://www.harpersbooks.com/pages/books/17596/california-dreaming/archive-of-vernacular-snapshots-of-road-signs-in-california#sthash.qPJ5DDoV.dpuf
Archive of Vernacular Snapshots of Road Signs in California - See more at: http://www.harpersbooks.com/pages/books/17596/california-dreaming/archive-of-vernacular-snapshots-of-road-signs-in-california#sthash.qPJ5DDoV.dpuf
 Archive of Vernacular Snapshots of Road Signs in California

"Collection of 149 vernacular photographs of road signs throughout California and the southwestern United States, taken by an individual unknown photographer. Prints vary in size, with mostly 3 X 4 1/2 inch and 2 1/2 X 3 1/2 inch snapshots. The overwhelming majority depict diamond-shaped signs, with arrows to campgrounds and natural sites or lists of distances to nearby localities, surrounded by a receding expanse of desert, forest, or sky. Several signs are riddled with bullet holes and various prints are written on or stamped on the verso. In addition, the collection includes 5 images of the couple who presumably took the pictures, with the Ford coupe they traveled in. Photographs are stored in clear protective sheets and plastic sleeves in a container, with a selection organized by a previous owner (not the photographer) in a photo album labeled 'Riding Shotgun' and a group encased in a small cowhide accordion-fold photo case. A meditation on indexicality, and the typology of signs in the aesthetic of Ed Ruscha, presaging the open road iconography of Jack Kerouac. Prints in near fine condition, with minor fading and edge wear."

Second-to-last sentence just phones in the semblance of critical context, but the actual object's amazing.
- posted by cjb @ 10:27 AM


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