sundance

Signing out with Josef Schulz

I’m guessing Waffle House

Josef Schulz has exhibited only once in the US, but that doesn’t mean the Dusseldorf-based photographer hasn’t made his mark in the international art scene. In fact he’s made his mark by removing the marks of big, brand-name companies and showing the form that remains once the logos are gone. “Sachliches,” one of his earliest series, shows what hulking box-like structures big name retail stores really are once their signs are digitally removed. Earlier this year, Schulz debuted his latest series, “Sign Out,” a clever look at fast-food and gas station signage. See if you can guess them all.

Josef Schulz, “Sign Out”

While driving through the US, artist Josef Schulz photographed the ubiquitous litter of highway billboard signs, and then digitally erased the logos and writing for his series “Sign Out.” As Patrik Metzger explains: Deprived of their message and their function they are turned into empty speech bubbles. At first they seem to be merely surface [...]