City Ghost Signs

Hand painted signage on brick buildings is a lost art, something that was commonplace before mass-produced printed signs were readily available. Indeed, many of the old painted advertisements have become cherished relics in many cities. Artist Craig Winslow is bringing some of these classic signs back to life with his Ghost Sign project.

Winslow painstakingly recreates the hand painted ads digitally, and then using the magic of projection mapping (computer controlled video projection), he brings the old signs back to life.  The ghost sign project has brought signs back to life in Portland, Oregon, Winnipeg, Canada. His project has been recognized as an important historical project, and he is part of the Adobe Creative Residency program. He calls his work “light capsules”. Very innovative and fascinating use of technology to bring history alive. H/T to Betsy Rutz. 

“I started seeing them everywhere and realized I wanted to do something with these to preserve them,” he says. “So many of them were being painted over, destroyed. They all have such a unique character to them that I wanted to do something.”