African Store Sign Art
The store sign painter is a dying profession in West Africa. More and more businesses offer modern inkjet printing on vinyl banners and less and less new stores are ordering hand painted signs.
Before my departure from Africa, I visited several store sign painters in their workshops and gave some designs I had put together mostly by using images from old record covers to paint them onto plywood sheets.
Their size ranges from 1.5 x 3 foot to 4 x 4 foot.
As always, click on images for a better look!
22 comments:
Another Vodoun skill !! Great paint job Frank. African records sleeves are very inspirating... Perfect for a bar decoration or... on the walls of my music room !
ps :you forgot the Bentho Gustave's necklace ;)
Best
It wasn't me who did this... as explained, these were custom jobs done by various store sign painters.
You're right about Gustave's Necklace missing, though!
very cool stuff, im bummed i missed your nyc show but as a true voodoo funk fan i cant wait till the next party, good luck finding a sutable venue. there is this spot that has a monthly reggae night in brooklyn you might want to have a look at. It has a very underground speak easy feel with huge speakers and a nice sized dance floor heres a link
http://www.myspace.com/dubwise_sessions
Hey Josh,
thanx for this hint, I'll go have a look at the place this weekend.
Peace
Frank
Hi,
I wish I could have been at the APT party...
Have you think of coming to Barcelona (Spain) to Dj? There's a place called Apolo (www.sala-apolo.com) where every Thursday night you have the so called Powder Room. Amir, Cut Chemist, Keb Darge and many more have already been here. You should come as well and contact the guys who run it (www.maumauunderground.com/info@maumaunderground.com). Anyway, your site is great. I have a question though. What is the song being played by El Rego & Ses Commandos on half of the trailer/video?
Thanks in advance for a swift reply
Take care,
Pau Amigó (pauamigo@yahoo.es)
Barcelona
Spain
By the way, Frank,
any idea where I can find a copy of Mebusas, Blood Brothers, Afrodisia? I've been looking for this record for years.
Thanks,
pau (pauamigo@yahoo.es)
Those paintings are fantastic! Like a sort of African Peter Blake crossed with 'outsider art'. Very saleable too if it ever came to that I should say. You cover all the angles don't you? very impressed by it all. Gonna be one heck of a club night. Good luck with it. i look forward to your next mix, as I am in the UK and won't be able to get the real thing.
cheers,
Jon
Hi Pau,
the El Rego track is "Hessa".
I haven't found the Blood Brothers LP myself so far but maybe on the next trip... I've already made plans to go to Lagos later this year.
Jon, maybe I'll make it to the UK one day... I had 2 or 3 copies done from some of the paintings so if someone wants to buy one off the wall, it's possible. Don't know about international shipping, though. Sadly, the profession of store sign painter will soon become moslty extinct all over West Africa. In more "developed" countries like Ghana, close to all new signs are designed digitally and printed onto vinyl banners with inkjet printers.
Hey Frank,
hab lange nicht mehr in deinem Blog gelesen. Viel Spass und viel Glueck in NYC (bin wahrscheinlich im Herbst auch mal wieder dort). Und danke fuer die vielen Mixe - sehr coole Sachen (und ich kannte davon ueberhaupt nichts ;).
Uebrigens... auch das "Wire" Magazin wuerdigt dich und deinen Blog (August Issue, Seite 57, Nigeria/Lagos Reviews...).
Viele Gruesse aus London
Kassi
Hallo Kassi!
Was fuer eine Überaschung!
Lass mich auf jeden Fall wissen wann Du nach NY kommst, so daß wir uns verabreden können.
Sagmal... könntest Du mir evtl. einen Scan von dem Artikel im Wire magazine mailen?
frank@voodoofunk.com
Alles Gute und vielen Dank für die Kontaktaufnahme!
Frank
Mr. Pusher
I planned around a trip in the states just to hear your show in New York. Thanks so much us french folks were loving it. The only bummer was the acoustics and dance floor. As you noted, it ain t easy to find a venue in NYC. Have you looked into SOB s yet? that could be the right place
all the best
stEFan
Thanx Stefan!
Glad you had a good time!
I'm currently talking to a new club that has the most impressive sound system I've ever seen plus a big, beautiful wooden dance floor. Keep your fingers crossed for me, if this works out, it would be a dream come true.
Peace!
Frank
Mate I have followed your blogging for a while now and try to open people's ears to the sounds you've shared with us whenever possible. My girl is yoruba and we are going over to Lagos in May so I'm hoping to to be able to pick up some vinyl while there. As someone who has absolutely zip for non reissue afrobeat I would salivate at any purchase so if you don't mind either replying here or sending me a quick note to cuervo99 at hotmail dot com with any suggestions of places to score in Lagos you'd be eternally on my christmas cardlist! Okay you probably don't want xmas cards but if you want anything from australia I could try and help you out! Regardless, thanks for all your dedication to this blog and for making my hearing worth having!
Hit me with an email a few weeks before you go and I'll hook you up with some contacts. You migth want to consider to spend some time in Benin.
You keep amazing me Frank. First the fetish collection, now these absolutely gorgeous paintings... I've photographed tons of hairdresser signs and roadside art during my trips but never thought of having some sign boards made to take home... - tom
hi frank,
i just want to compliment you on your incredible digging skills, particularly as so many music lovers (and one hopes, some of the original artists) will benefit from you passion. my modest digging habit seems pointless in comparison.
secondly, i wish you all the best with your documentary - a truly brave undertaking. My fiancee is currently finishing a documentary about jazz lyricist Fran Landesman on a zero-budget (well, my credit card is the budget), and after two years of hard work, it's nearly ready (just got to pay for the music clearance...yikes). anyway, if she can pull it off, no doubt you will as well.
hope you make it to the uk sometime in the future!
kindest regards,
pierre c (dubpoet@hotmail.com)
Frank, your blog (and the trailer for the documentary) was linked from the MusicThing blog earlier this week. I've been grooving here in my office to your mixes ever since, so I thought I'd tell you thank you!
I will certainly try to get hold of some of the reissue CDs you mention.
Say, could you try to get yourself a gig DJ'ing at next years SXSW in Austin?
Victor.
hey Victor,
I'm glad I brightened up your day at the office! I think I have a friend who regularly goes to SXSW to spin... I'll ask him if he could get me in touch with the organizers...
Thanx!
Frank
Hello Frank! First, great blog and music - actually,i read and listen to it with a thoghts i ought to do this kind of mission myself too but still - only collecting old african stuff..I'm working in Moscow now and do some promotion( i brought Tippa Irie here 1 year ago).Here we have couple of some 300 people venues that invite american(hiphop from NY were a few like the Rub) and european groove music DJ's - check out www.s-11.ru so if you are about to consider the option to play here - contact me as people here are always hungry for fat grooves and you have a bomb collection to shake the bones.My mail is
tetrapak8@yandex.ru and my name is Kyrill.
I love these so much I downloaded them and have them rotating as my desktop picture.
I would buy a print of the Marijata one.
I can't sell prints, I don't think a print would look good, the pieces really work best in their large format. If you'd see them, you'd agree.
I have a few doubles of some of these paintings (unfortunatelly not the Marijata one) and plan on selling them at future events. If this works out, I will order more of them.
thank you for all your links!
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