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Electric Signs
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Images #

Electric sign with vinyl text
96″ × 135.9″
Photo credit: Jenni Carter

Graphite on paper
22″ × 30″
Photo credit: Renée Martin

Installation view, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
Electric sign with vinyl text
96″ × 135.9″
Photo credit: EPW Studio/Maria Macri

Electric sign with vinyl text
96″ × 133.5″
Photo credit: Jenni Carter

Graphite on paper
22″ × 30″
Photo credit: Renée Martin

Electric sign with vinyl text
96″ × 135.9″
Photo credit: Jenni Carter

Graphite on paper
22″ × 30″
Photo credit: Renée Martin

Installation view, Biennale of Sydney 2008
Electric sign with vinyl text
62″ × 93.5″; Photo credit: Jenni Carter

Aluminum, electric sign with vinyl text (pole-mounted)
63.5″ × 84.5″
Photo credit: Jenni Carter

Graphite on paper
30″ × 22″
Photo credit: Renée Martin

Installation view, Biennale of Sydney 2008
Aluminum, electric sign with vinyl text
63.5″ × 84.5″
Photo credit: Jenni Carter

Electric sign with vinyl text
75.5″ × 82.5″
Photo credit: Jenni Carter

Installation view, Biennale of Sydney 2008
Electric sign with vinyl text
75.5″ × 82.5″
Photo credit: Jenni Carter

Electric sign with vinyl text
48″ × 62″ × 11″
Photo credit: Thomas R. Dubrock

Graphite on paper
30″ × 22″
Photo credit: Sheldon Collins

Installation view, Project Row Houses, Houston
Electric sign with vinyl text
48″ × 62″ × 11″
Photo credit: Thomas R. Dubrock

Electric sign with vinyl text
58″ × 64″ × 11″
Photo credit: Achim Kukulies

Graphite on paper
20″ × 15″

Installation view, Public Prosecutors’ Office, City of Arnhem
Electric sign with vinyl text
58″ × 64″ × 11″

Electric sign with vinyl text
40″ × 82″ × 11″
Photo credit: Achim Kukulies

Graphite on paper
15″ × 20″

Electric sign with vinyl text
48″ × 77″ × 11″

Graphite on paper
30″ × 22″
Photo credit: Sheldon Collins

Installation view, Project Row Houses, Houston
Electric sign with vinyl text; 48″ × 77″ × 11″
Photo credit: Thomas R. Dubrock

Electric sign with vinyl text
48″ × 58″ × 11″
Photo credit: Achim Kukulies

Graphite on paper
20″ × 15″

Electric sign with vinyl text
81″ × 88″ × 11″

Graphite on paper
15″ × 20″

Installation view, The Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford
Electric sign with vinyl text
81″ × 88″ × 11″
Photo credit: John Groo

Electric sign with vinyl text
82″ × 58″ × 11″

Graphite on paper
22″ × 30″
Photo credit: Sheldon Collins

Installation view, Project Row Houses, Houston
Electric sign with vinyl text
74″ × 56″ × 11″
Photo credit: Thomas R. Dubrock

Electric sign with vinyl text
69″ × 48″ × 11″
Photo credit: Achim Kukulies

Graphite on paper
15″ × 20″

38″ × 70″ × 11″
Photo credit: Achim Kukulies

Graphite on paper
20″ × 15″

Installation view, Public Prosecutors’ Office, City of Arnhem
Electric sign with vinyl text
38″ × 70″ × 11″

Electric sign with vinyl text
53 1/2″ × 44″ × 11″
Photo credit: Achim Kukulies

Graphite on paper
15″ × 20″

Electric sign with vinyl text
74″ × 56″ × 11″
Photo credit: Thomas R. Dubrock

Graphite on paper
30″ × 22″
Photo credit: Sheldon Collins

Installation view, Project Row Houses, Houston
Electric sign with vinyl text; 74″ × 56″ × 11″
Photo credit: Thomas R. Dubrock

Electric sign with vinyl text
74″ × 58.5″ × 11″
Electric sign with vinyl text
144 cm × 163 cm
Photo credit: Robert Glowacki
Electric sign with vinyl text
120 cm × 198 cm
Photo credit: Robert Glowacki
Electric sign with vinyl text
176 cm × 166 cm
Photo credit: Robert Glowacki

Electric sign with vinyl text
130 cm × 223 cm
Photo credit: Robert Glowacki
Electric sign with vinyl text
227 cm × 229 cm
Photo credit: Robert Glowacki
Electric sign with vinyl text
250 cm × 164 cm
Photo credit: Robert Glowacki
Electric sign with vinyl text
228 cm × 210 cm
Photo credit: Robert Glowacki

Electric sign with vinyl text
177 cm × 176 cm
Photo credit: Robert Glowacki

nstallation view, The Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford
Electric signs with vinyl text
Dimensions vary
Photo credit: John Groo

Installation view, Biennale of Sydney 2008
Aluminum, electric signs with vinyl text; Dimensions vary
Photo credit: Jenni Carter

Installation view, Biennale of Sydney 2008
Aluminum, electric signs with vinyl text
Dimensions vary
Photo credit: Jenni Carter

Electric sign with vinyl text
41.4″ × 78.7″ × 9.8″

Electric sign with plastic text
50″ × 30″ × 9″
Photo credit: Jason Nocito

Electric sign with plastic letters
24″ × 94.5″ × 10.5″
Photo credit: Josh White
Text #
These lightbox signs are part of a long running series of electric signs that Durant has been making since 2001. Typical hand-written slogans from protests and demonstrations are transformed into large format commercial signs. The impulse to communicate, to be seen and heard is a deep human need, and one to which Durant’s lightbox signs point.
The signs are commercially produced outdoor illuminated display units. They are of the type found on the sides of small, local businesses such as convenience stores, restaurants, liquor stores and auto repair shops. They are so ubiquitous and unremarkable as to be almost invisible in the vernacular landscape. The early signs were produced in collaboration with master commercial sign maker David Burgess in South Los Angeles, Durant now employs local companies to fabricate the works in the places where they are exhibited.
The slogans and texts are sourced from photographs of demonstrations, marches, street graffiti and other events. When Durant started the project the focus was mainly on events in the 1960s and ’70s in the U.S.. The series has since expanded in scope, reaching further back historically up to current events with examples from around the world and languages other than English.
The criterion for selecting the slogans is both simple and specific. The photo should contain an image of a handmade sign and the message on the sign should be general in nature. The slogan should not refer to any specific event, cause, person or time, in other words, text that could have more than one meaning depending on the context or time in which they are seen. Through this transformation the hand-written slogans appear to become timelessness and placeless, trans-historical and trans-locational. This decontextualizing effect allows viewers to make new connections with the texts. The event to which the slogan was originally addressed ceases to be the focus and we can concentrate on the words, the message and the visual effects of the hand lettering. Human presence, imagination and agency comes to the foreground.