Beautiful Losers was one of my favourite films of the year. One of my singularly favourite moments is the scene when Steve Powers is being interviewed at the barber. Suddenly he stops, examines his crazy hair do and exclaims "Powerful!".
A hair cut becomes art. Likewise other simple everyday things for Powers are art. Shop signage, fairgrounds and love letters.
The latter is the core to this amazing project that the man otherwise know as ESPO (aka "Exterior Surface Painting Outreach") is orchestrating in Philadelphia. Together with the inspirationally rad Mural Arts Program - Powers is envisioning 50 works scribing in full a Love Letter all in the vernacular of classic sign writing.
Like a giant landscape of a gallery, the letter will unfold as locals ride the railway. The beauty of old school typography and hand-made vintage signage loses once and for all the tarnish of commercial validity and now rocks plain love. Piff to laser cut stick on vinyl! Care less to downloaded fonts! And forget minimum resolutions when all you have is a bold vision, a big heart and a can of paint.
Only a graffiti artist could really mastermind a project like that where art for arts sake rules the school. Keep a keen eye on "Philadelphia Love Letter" and the film in the making by Joey Garfield.