Ghost signs, ghost ads & other phantoms
SEEING GHOSTS – Seven Photographers Capture Faded Wall Ads – Neon Museum of Philadelphia – July 2 – August 8, 2021
NEW EXHIBIT opening next week! “Seeing Ghosts: 7 Photographers Capture Faded Wall Ads.” Very excited to see this talented group come together to haunt our neon gallery with images, stories, and videos of ghost signs. Featured work by Jordan Keiffer (@phillyghostsigns), Peter Woodall of @hiddencityphila, Frank Jump (@fadingadsnyc_fjump), Chris Brace (@vintage_imageny), MaryAlice Bitts-Jackson (@bittsjackson), Gibbs Connors (@gibbsconnors), and our very own Len Davidson.
A LIVE wall painting event will be held at the Museum by Philadelphia sign painter @gibbsconnors on July 3rd! Don’t miss it! Appearances by the show’s photographers will occur throughout the exhibit, as will additional demonstrations by Gibbs. Stay tuned for announcements.
The show runs from July 2nd – August 8th. Learn more and book your tickets at the link in bio! 👻
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neon museum of philadelphia: Seeing Ghosts – Seven Photographers Capture Faded Wall Ads – July 2 – August 8, 2021
On view from July 2nd through August 8th, 2021
Across the globe, artifacts from pre-Internet commerce emerge from building facades in hand-painted figures and fonts of vintage advertisements. Known as ghost signs, these faded wall ads are folk art diamonds in the rough of today’s shiny plastic cities. Their fossilized messages, ranging from obvious to obscure, are the focus of our show’s ghost sign hunters, who’ve captured these fading designs and histories in photographs, videos, and interviews.
A live wall painting event will be held at the Museum by Philadelphia sign painter Gibbs Connors on July 3, 2021. Appearances by different photographers will occur throughout the exhibit as will additional demonstrations by Gibbs. Stay tuned for announcements.
Featuring work by Peter Woodall, Frank Jump, Chris Brace, Len Davidson, MaryAlice Bitts-Jackson, Gibbs Connors, and Jordan Keiffer.
One Million Views! Thank you!
The Fading Ad Blog started in March 2007 as a WordPress blog and switched to its own domain at some point after June 14, 2010. Although viewership has dropped in the last few years and I have also slowed down a bit, this March we hit the one million view mark since I’ve switched to my own fadingad.com domain. Hurray! And I have you to thank. Please continue sending your fading ads and sharing your stories about looking up while walking around your neighborhoods. True love never fades.
The Zombie Billboards of Locked-Down New York
“My industry is called outdoor advertising and people were being told not to go outdoors”
By Tim Donnelly
CLICK HERE to read the latest CURBED article on billboards in which I am cited.
(Un)Limited Coffee – Zephyr, TX – Vance Bass
Hi, Frank, Here’s a sign I photographed in 2001 at the intersection of US 84 and FM 590, in Zephyr, Texas. Zephyr is a tiny wide spot in the road between Abilene and Austin, TX, but its location on a US highway apparently warranted a huge wall sign. I haven’t found any information on “Limited Coffee” — apparently, it was very limited. According to Google Maps, the building and sign are still there, but the street view is badly lit, so it’s impossible to tell what condition it’s in now. There are many layers to decipher there, especially in the privilege block.
Best regards,
Vance Bass
