NOLA 'Nacular - Country Roads Magazine
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× Expand<br>Photo by Anthony DelRosario of NOLA 'Nacular
Sign painted by Lester Carey.
Biking around New Orleans in the years after Katrina, pondering the destruction—what was lost and what survived, the blue sky reflecting in the puddles and in the potholes—Anthony DelRosario was conceiving the project of a lifetime. He would go on to spend days, months, years documenting the careful lettering advertising beauty salons, barber shops, churches, delis, daiquiri shops, lounges. This included corner stores, once the center of community life for gossip and groceries. It all began as an act of preservation, a realization that “life and things are fragile and ephemeral.”
BEER - WINE - Liquor
KILLER FREE Jukebox
Snacks…GOOD TIMES
He calls his life’s work Nola ‘Nacular, a reference to the vernacular signage he has taken to heart. Hand-painted signs are going the way of the typewriter, the way of the phonograph. Growing rarer every day, these signs are sometimes misspelled but always distinct to the painter, utilitarian, sure, but also something more. They are almost always an advertisement, but sometimes a plea or reminder that Jesus Loves You or an idea: Cell Phone—Modern Ear Ache? When we talk about the local color of New Orleans, these hand-painted signs, which DelRosario describes as vernacular art, are part of the tapestry. In this instance, vernacular refers to “a language that is not standard or official, but instead specific to a particular community or culture.” I mean, you already know. Who dat, your mom ‘en ‘em. Making groceries, snoballs. Ain’t dere no more. The sign painters go a little further; their art is often the voice, or font, of an entire neighborhood.
× Expand<br>Photos by Anthony DelRosario of NOLA 'Nacular
Sign painted by Lester Carey
Before Katrina, DelRosario spent nearly a decade booking shows for the Mermaid Lounge (ain’t dere no more), feeding the band, making hardly any money, which was fine. He was more interested in the community, supporting the music he loved. So, this newfound mission of wandering the streets and documenting their signs was just an extension of his way of caring for his people. He draws similarities to his work with that of Alan Lomax, who drove around documenting folk stories and musicians in the early twentieth century. When we speak, he smilingly refers to himself as an “ethnosignicologist.” Over time, he found himself able to distinguish the work of different artists by their flourishes, their lettering style—each the last lighthouse of their message, painting advertisements and advice, like any artist, because of necessity and because they’re driven to do the work.
One morning, he stopped before a gentleman sitting in front of a painted sign and asked him if he knew where the artist was who had made it. He’d been looking for Lester Carey for a while. The man, June, said, “Well, he’s probably at Keller Market across the street”—which was exactly where DelRosario found him, there with a grocery cart stuffed with paint cans and a backpack that had “artist” painted on it.
× Expand<br>Photos by Anthony DelRosario of NOLA 'Nacular
Sign painted by Pam Collins
Carey was one of the first sign artists he met and one of the best-known; this grinning older man with a little bit of a shoulder hunch has painted sandwich boards and sides of buildings, logos and church signs, mostly in Central City, where he lived. “Lester would often have sketches when I ran into him,” said DelRosario. On a grocery store wall, NECK BONES PIG TAILS + TIPS PORK CHOPS is painstakingly written, sometimes in cursive, sometimes slanted, red on white; giving a little levity to shopping, to your lunch break, chicken wings painted like the dependable delight they are. DelRosario sometimes refers to work like Carey’s as “block style” or “script style.”
DelRosario has lamented that he understands it might be cheaper, or simply easier, to have a sign designed digitally, or now through AI, and printed quickly. But the “neighborhood loses something.” That is to say, it loses its voice.
× Expand<br>Photos by Anthony DelRosario of NOLA 'Nacular.
Sign painted by Lester Carey.
After their meeting, DelRosario went from simply observing the culture he loved to helping actively support and create it. He began bringing Carey plywood and paint, the types of brushes he needed, and even got him some commissions. He made shirts to raise money for Carey, who lived on the street. They later collaborated with Defend New Orleans to make and sell more shirts with Carey’s signature painted words across the chest, the proceeds going to the artist. Carey passed away in 2017, though his work remains synonymous with the tradition of New Orleans sign painting, in no small part thanks to DelRosario’s...