The Signtologist Submitted By: Billy Woodward

The Signtologist in words It wasn’t until I had started painting that I realized how closed off I was to the world, that is to say I had no idea what I was taking for granted; Beautiful blank concrete walls I’ve passed a million times over without thinking twice, storage pods glanced over with a yawn, and millions of street signs that I only notice because I’m legally obligated to do so. For me it took painting to see the world as a canvas. Dunn ‘The Signtologist’, famous for painting images on street signs, fell into it completely differently. A Denver Native, Dan grew up in the DU area and attended school at South. While pursuing a graphic design degree at Arapahoe Community College Dan was painting portraits in a character style for one of his classes from home, he botched the last canvas and it was due the next day. In a moment of panic he went out back to smoke a cigarette and his eyes fell upon a faded no parking sign. ‘I painted the character on the no parking sign, got a bad grade so I decided to hang it up in my house.’ Positive feedback from friends and roommates kept Dunn painting for a while whether it is on a turntable platter or a Nissan Ultima banner, but he wasn’t really making much progress professionally until approaching the hip-hop community with his artwork. The Signtologist in words

‘Talent recognizes talent…before too long’ Dunn explained to me when we were talking about the artists he had given pieces to, his M.O at the beginning was waiting for hours either before or after shows piece in hand with no intention of going home empty-handed…at least in the figurative sense, that is to say he wouldn’t leave until he was able to hand off his pieces to the artists. Dan’s first experiment with the idea really caught my attention, because I subscribe to the idea that hip-hop is kept alive by a select few individuals my favorite of which is a south Philly rapper named Vinnie Paz, the articulate, and explosive front man for the group ‘Jedi Mind Tricks’ so when Dan told me that Vinnie was his first test subject I almost didn’t believe him. Dan stood with the doorman while Black Pegasus brought the portrait back to Vinnie, minutes later Vinnie came out and brought Dan backstage to discuss the ‘artists curse.’ From there ‘they (the portraits) became my backstage passes.’ Dan estimates that he has given somewhere over 200 portraits to artists, some being repeats when they come back into town, but the list of names and stories is astonishing; Slick Rick, Gift of Gab, Black Thought and so many others.

This period brought about the pivotal point in his career, when Dan painted a monochromatic portrait of Biggie Smalls on a stop sign that had been shot by his roommates with three different caliber sizes. ‘The biggie piece was more a turning point, the piece cut me when I was painting it, it was the first time I tried to put a message within the sign, stop the violence…almost, at least trying to take something you see every day and twist the connotation.’

The Signtologist in words Today Dan is a green artist, getting his signs legitimately from different municipalities; he is very involved with the local scene and art shows in the area. His shirts sell at local shops like Community Service and TS board shop and the portraits continue to get cranked out on Street Signs. He has a family, and is content with being planted in Denver ‘I think Denver will always be home, but I’d like to push my horizons.’ For today Dan paints and carries himself with a humble air, he knows this may not last forever, but for today he is a major player in Denver ‘I could quit tomorrow and feel like I was successful because I gave back to the hip-hop culture, giving them something unique that they appreciate or find meaning in.’