WARREN H. ANDERSON- ROADSIDE AMERICA PRINT - ZOOM DINER AIRPLANE 7" X 11"

Description

Introduced by Frenchman Georges Claude in 1910, neon signage made its way to the U.S. in 1923 just ahead of the creation of a Federal highway system.
The incredibly bright “liquid fire” contained within easily shaped, durable glass tubing proved to be an ideal form for attracting the attention of automobilists.
By the 1980s, roads were often deluged by a plethora of signs. Many cities enacted ordinances to reduce the “annoying clutter.”
New laws discouraged or outright prohibited the use of neon for commercial advertising.
Sometimes cities like Tempe were so averse to neon, they actually encouraged businesses to exchange their signs for more modern and less obtrusive “monument” signs.
This troubled Warren H. Anderson, a University of Arizona art professor, who became concerned about the increasing disappearance of what he termed a unique “vernacular art form.”
His concern became a passion that led to a years-long odyssey documenting the rapidly dwindling pieces of Americana. Sketching with colored pencil in a style called “prismatic art,” Anderson recorded hundreds of signs and other roadside elements.
James Ballinger, who became director of the prestigious Phoenix Art Museum in 1982, wrote the forward. “ Warren Anderson selectively grasps the imagery of roadside signs…and transforms them into meaningful statements.”
Recognizing Mesa's signs
What makes the 35-year-old, long-out-of-print book especially prescient is Anderson’s early recognition of the artistic value of some Mesa signs.
One was just two decades old when Anderson depicted it twice for his book.
Calling the beloved Diving Lady “Rose,” Anderson laments her “nocturnal descent culminates on a disastrous note.
“She is headed not into an inviting swimming pool but instead onto a hard surface near the road.
“At this rate she may become a part of obliterated roadside America.
“She must, however, be of Olympic caliber in that she completes dozens of dives each night.”
The iconic Kiva Lodge with its Plains Indian clad in full headdress, also caught Anderson’s eye. “…anthropology this sign aint,” he wrote.
“Instead it is a very artistic pictorial object that lets the traveler experience the sense of adventure he seeks,” adding “It’s fun, it‘s bright and it offers something unavailable in the more distant Pueblo country.”