![As with his previous “sachliches + formen” [material + form] studies, the Polish artist digitally manipulated his images, meticulously stripping the American signs of all purpose or identity. The now-blank signs, rather than empty speech bubbles ready for filling in with thought or action, suggest a more dystopian vision of loss. The images, without contextual signifiers like landscape or human activity, have only the shifting background of the sky to anchor them to reality.
Isolated from the economic devastation of this “Great Recession,” this show could easily be viewed as a mere—though beautiful—study in formal language. Nevertheless, connected as we are to the painful realities of recent car dealership closures, shuttered shopping centers and consolidated commercial activity, Sign out reads as a commentary on the American dream, unfulfilled.
Josef Schulz’s Sign out. More at Cool Hunting.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kxj3beNn2n1qae6kbo1_400.jpg)
As with his previous “sachliches + formen” [material + form] studies, the Polish artist digitally manipulated his images, meticulously stripping the American signs of all purpose or identity. The now-blank signs, rather than empty speech bubbles ready for filling in with thought or action, suggest a more dystopian vision of loss. The images, without contextual signifiers like landscape or human activity, have only the shifting background of the sky to anchor them to reality.
Isolated from the economic devastation of this “Great Recession,” this show could easily be viewed as a mere—though beautiful—study in formal language. Nevertheless, connected as we are to the painful realities of recent car dealership closures, shuttered shopping centers and consolidated commercial activity, Sign out reads as a commentary on the American dream, unfulfilled.
Josef Schulz’s Sign out. More at Cool Hunting.
