Don’t get between Bill Rebholz and his love of signs

We last spoke to Bill Rebholz in 2017, where we discussed his move from Minneapolis to New York, and how he channelled the “sameness of general characters and routines in life” across his work. Now, eight years on, Bill’s tone, approach and practice have evolved. While drawing and painting is still a constant for him, he’s added two new practical skillsets to his bow – sewing and woodwork. “Being bad at something but slowly figuring it out by doing, with the potential of the skill or craft’s virtue in mind, is something that keeps the feeling of monotony at bay for me,” he says. This has left him diving into bricolage and object making and, altogether, broadening the vernacular of his practice.

One element of Bill’s work that has notably expanded in scope is his lettering – a narrative tool that’s evolved since he began worked alongside sign painters. “Having worked with a few different sign painters through time, what could be called a ‘controlled’ painting style has really stuck with me,” he says. Consistently looking at signs has now somewhat imprinted an approach on his brain. “At its core, it is kind of just an obsession with shapes and patterns,” Bill explains. “I was very invested in learning to paint what I perceived to be the most astute version of a traditional sign font,” in essence giving him a crash course in understanding letterform design.

Following this, however, the more Bill dove into traditional sign painting, the more he appreciated “folky, naive, janky and downright busted” signs. “So the idea became, how bizarre, or wrong or ugly can I get?” leading Bill down a sign-laced path of no return. “Needless to say, signs are probably my greatest inspiration,” Bill adds, praising the local signage and architecture of California’s cityscapes. “I like to ride the bus and draw… there are vignettes happening all around us just waiting to be taken note of.”

The whimsy and intrigue of Bill’s inspirations means that his letterforms become an entire character of their own, bouncing off the inviting and robust shapes of characters, objects and arrangements, as well as the soft, muted tones of his paintings. “For one reason or another, in the past, I seemingly felt the need to use super-saturated colours across the board,” he says. “I still use plenty of vivid colour, but understated and mellow colours are given more presence,” something that has allowed his paintings to feel more balanced. “Now it feels like a little more of my personality coming through in the colour choices,” Bill ends, “take that how you will.”