Beautiful Junk

12.04.2008

April and Greg (Studio Calico) managed to get us after-hours access to a 5 story antique shop in Paducah, KY. 2 floors of which aren't typically open to the public (I soon found out why). They were scrounging for unique items to add to their monthly kits ... basically anything in a large quantity. I was looking for anything and everything. We spent about 6 hours total rummaging through every pile, heap, stack, bucket and box of dusty, dirty, smelly, beautiful junk. We found a lot of amazing things and since Ray, the owner, was cutting us huge deals ... we came back with an SUV full of treasures (zero buyers remorse).

01: Circus Poster made with wood-type printing. When I saw that massive 28 inch tall #2 I was in love. I like how it's only comprised of typography.

02: The owner had a decent collection of old stamps (mainly pharmacies) and wood type words. I like the letter-forms on these (Especially the 'g' in Drug).

03-04: I found 2 really awesome pennants. 03 is for Mammoth Cave KY (25 minutes from my house). 04 is Ogden Utah (need I explain?).

05: This is an academic journal book (sorta like a Blue Book). The type was interesting and printed with golden metallic ink. Though dirty it's still very vibrant.

06-07: I came home with a few theater tag signs. "Double Feature" and "Starts Fri.". I would guess these were hand drawn / cut and would go beneath a theater poster. They have brilliant, rich color.

08: Sun Drop tin sign. This was upside down collecting water in the rafters of the 5th floor antique dungeon. I felt compelled to save it. The gold is metallic ink and all the letters are embossed. I plan on cleaning this up quite a bit. It's at least 3 feet wide.

I often go to thrift, antique, and junk stores to find inspiration. The old way just seems so much more beautiful to me. Custom lettering, hand-cut screen printing, and brilliant colors. There is an amazing tactile splendor of good paper, printing, and ink. A lot of the objects I found used one or two color printing which reminds me that simple is beautiful.