In the era of increasingly high-tech Times Square billboards, sign painting seems like a lost art, but in fact it's been experiencing a Renaissance in recent years. Josh started Best Dressed Signs in Boston three years ago after apprenticing at another sign painting store in San Francisco. He got hooked on the art when working at a Utrecht in that city. "There was this amazing old gilded tobacco advertisement from probably the early twentieth century. It was in perfect condition because it had been covered up for so long. To this day it's the best sign I've ever seen, and I was hooked from that point on," he said.
Just as Juun.J abstracted two of Best Dressed Signs' paintings for the pieces in his collection, Josh wanted to "create this futuristic diorama" in his window display, he said. To create the window at OC took over a week in preparation, and then another eight hours for installation, including the on-site hand-painting. "On the window is a white gold-gilded Juun.J, which we painted that night along with the border. It's called white gold because it's real gold cut with silver, and I knew it would look good with the mirrors because it's reflective itself," said Josh. "A lot of people these days might have just done it in mirror vinyl, but you can't get away from how good classic techniques look."
The theme of the window? "A hall of mirrors," according to Josh. In a sense, that's a lot like the Juun.J jersey in the window. "Depending on the angle you'll see the shirt differently. That's exactly what I was thinking with the mirrors," he said.
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Photos courtesy of Best Dressed Signs
