Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere: Street Signs

In the Street Sign series, digital photographs of suburban street signs are printed and die-cut as automobile decals. Each decal is applied to the surface of a fabricated sheet of aluminum that has been custom painted at an auto body shop. All paint colors are taken from Martha Stewart’s Signature Series. Each sign is titled with the names of the intersecting streets followed by the name of the specific paint color. They are installed above eye-level as if one was looking up at a standard street sign.

The result is a body of work that merges suburban materials and aesthetics while addressing issues of representation and perception within culturally diverse suburban environments. Of specific importance are the ways in which the street names contradict cultural, historical and environmental aspects of the areas in which they exist. In this particular case, the region in which these signs exist is one of the fastest growing and culturally diverse regions in North America.

Each sign in the series is titled with the names of the intersections depicted followed by the name of the paint color used. For example: Culture/Whitewash (Spring Melt), Pilgrim/Native Landing (Gooseberry) and Honeymoon/Fidelity (Scented Notepaper). All street signs and intersections in this series exist as they have been photographed – they have not been doctored.

Installation Images


Street Signs (Installation View)
Aluminum, Automotive Paint, and Photographic Vinyl Decals, 48" x 32" Each, 2006-2008
Cambridge Galleries, Cambridge, ON.



Street Signs (Installation View)
Aluminum, Automotive Paint, and Photographic Vinyl Decals, 48" x 32" Each, 2006-2008
Cambridge Galleries, Cambridge, ON.



Street Signs: Honeymoon/Fidelity (Scented Notepaper) (Installation Detail)
Aluminum, Automotive Paint, and Photographic Vinyl Decals, 48" x 32" Each, 2006-2008
ADA Gallery, Richmond, VA.


Individual Images


Bobcat/Horned Owl (Cake Batter)
Aluminum, Automotive Paint, and Photographic Vinyl Decals, 48" x 32" Each, 2006-2008



Pilgrim/Native Landing (Gooseberry)
Aluminum, Automotive Paint, and Photographic Vinyl Decals, 48" x 32" Each, 2006-2008



Culture/Whitewash (Spring Melt)
Aluminum, Automotive Paint, and Photographic Vinyl Decals, 48" x 32" Each, 2006-2008



Canada Goose/Dolphin Song (Enamelware)
Aluminum, Automotive Paint, and Photographic Vinyl Decals, 48" x 32" Each, 2006-2008



El Camino/Crown Victoria (Sparkling Brook)
Aluminum, Automotive Paint, and Photographic Vinyl Decals, 48" x 32" Each, 2006-2008



Honeybee/Sugarcane (Violet Powder)
Aluminum, Automotive Paint, and Photographic Vinyl Decals, 48" x 32" Each, 2006-2008



Honeymoon/Fidelity (Scented Notepaper)
Aluminum, Automotive Paint, and Photographic Vinyl Decals, 48" x 32" Each, 2006-2008



Nostalgia/Saddleback (Pink Luster)
Aluminum, Automotive Paint, and Photographic Vinyl Decals, 48" x 32" Each, 2006-2008



Olde Town/Butterchurn (Pressed Powder)
Aluminum, Automotive Paint, and Photographic Vinyl Decals, 48" x 32" Each, 2006-2008



Pressed Brick/Yellow Brick (Cat's Whiskers)
Aluminum, Automotive Paint, and Photographic Vinyl Decals, 48" x 32" Each, 2006-2008



Deforest/Queen Mary (Snowball)
Aluminum, Automotive Paint, and Photographic Vinyl Decals, 48" x 32" Each, 2006-2008



Preservation/Preservation (Picket Fence)
Aluminum, Automotive Paint, and Photographic Vinyl Decals, 48" x 32" Each, 2006-2008