Josh Luke: Signs and Symbols

So a few months ago, out of the blue, I got a request to be an artist mentor for a student in a low residency Masters in Fine Arts program. This was immediately interesting to me for a couple of reasons: 1) I got paid. 2) I don’t actually have an MFA myself. For those who don’t know, in

the art world there’s really only one degree: an MFA. I don’t have one, which means teaching is pretty much out of the question, unless it involves crayons and paste. In fact, at various points over the last 10 years, specifically times when my fulltime job had become a bit of a drag, I had contemplated entering one of these low residency programs myself. They sound fun. You live wherever you want, you can have a job if you like, you make art on your own, and a few weeks a year you go to wherever the school is based and do some intensive learning. While you’re on your own, you check in a few times with a local artist mentor who tells you what you’re doing wrong, chain smokes, and looks bitter. Apart from the chain smoking, I was flattered to be considered for the role. Truthfully, it didn’t occur to me at first that my Mentee (or Manatee as I started calling him) might actually be good. Well, folks, meet Josh Luke, talented fucking painter.

Those of you paying attention to recent developments in San Francisco might recognize Josh’s work as being within a school of sign painting that has started getting some gallery attention out there. Just this past March, Ben Eine had a show at White Walls Gallery that attracted a fair bit of notice from the Juxtapoz and Arrested Motion folks. Josh is part of the New Bohemia Signs crew, who have a show up right now at Guerrero Gallery, another great venue in San Francisco.

Josh recently moved to Boston, bringing his flashy West Coast sign painting skills to drab New England. People in the Allston area might recognize his handiwork in the sign for the Orchard skate shop. I’m hoping more business owners catch on to the fact that hand painted signs in general look way better than their cheap vinyl counterparts. I mean, there is a reason that everyone in the world thinks San Francisco is a beautiful city. OK, sure, it’s probably the hills, the sweeping vistas of the bay, and the neat Victorian architecture. But the fact that sign painting thrives there doesn’t hurt the charm either. I wouldn’t mind if Boston (along with some other cities of note) wholesale copied whatever the hell San Francisco is doing. For that matter, lets get us a bean like Chicago’s too. People like it when their city is pretty. The fact that I felt the need to write that depresses me.

In the mean time, Josh just wrapped up his first semester in the Art Institute of Boston’s low residency MFA program. He’s working on combining his sign painting vernacular with more of a fine art thing. Check out some more of his work below, including some really stunning works on glass, with gold leaf, influenced by 19th century currency. It was a real pleasure being his mentor this past semester, and I hope that when he quickly surpasses me in fame and notoriety (um, if he hasn’t already), that he will let me ride his coat tails. Check out more on Josh Luke and his business, Best Dressed Signs, at his blog and facebook page.