American Signs

A new exhibition, American Signs, featuring photography by Melusina Parkin, is now open at The Rose Theatre & Art Gallery, and Melusina will be present today, Tuesday, April 22, at 3 pm slt to welcome visitors. In contrast to many of her works that explore light, dark and linearity, these images are more evocative of a specific time time or period — indeed, they're almost nostalgic, hearkening back to the American roadside of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.

"Months ago, I started taking photographs for a series called 'Americana'; I wanted to shoot typical American places, landmarks and 'icons' of American popular culture I could find in Second Life," she explains. "While visiting these places, I realized how much signs contribute to define a style, a mood that we can find in any image of cities, roads, stores and streets," and notes that painters such as Edward Hopper and Charles Sheeler captured similar imagery in their works of the time, which are now in and of themselves iconic. The installation is appropriately set in a faux roadside environment, complete with gas pump, road signs and even a hotel room.