MARQUEE LETTERS

Marquee letters are fabricated letters made mainly from metal, featuring distinct hollywood bulb lighting to illuminate the letter. They can be made in all different shapes and sizes and are often made to look rusty and unkempt, to replicate their vintage roots.

"The history of marquee letters can be traced back to the early 20th century, when theaters and cinemas began to use illuminated signs to promote their shows. These signs were often made from metal or glass and featured large, bold letters that could be seen from a distance." whiteclouds.com

I was inspired by the fabrication of Marquee letters. Since they are quite expensive to buy, I found so much online on how to make them, determined to have the handmade aspect in my work. It was via these YouTube videos that I learnt how to make my own fabricated letters, using the same method but in reverse so they letters look whole rather than sunken in with protruding sides.

A really detailed video into marquee lettering from Maker Decor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLHgdxkfON8

Another in depth video from Basemeant WRX

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htad8pCbbU4

EXPERIMENTS - BUILDING LETTERS

Furthering my research into marquee letters, I decided to experiment with building letters.

Starting with a simple E template, I experimented with

FOAMBOARD - This was very hard to cut, even with the straight even lines of the letter E

CARDBOARD - This built up quite quickly and easily, but the soft flexible nature of the material made it look messy and unprofessional ALUMINIUM - This material looked great, until I used a hot glue gun to stick it together. This looked really scruffy and didn't have the desired effect. I believe to have a perfect finish it would have to be welded together. HARDBOARD - I designed this on Illustrator and used the laser to cut it precisely. This prototype gave me a real idea of how the real piece would look and be built up.

In order to create equal sides I had to carefully measure each length, ensuring that the side pieces were all the same depth.

This method was the best, however it was quite easy with the letter E due to it's equal straight lines, I knew that other letters such as S and O would be difficult due to their curves.

I then decided to create a font with straight edges, to ensure I could build the letters to a high standard and that they would stand alone.

TRAGEDY/COMEDY

The notorious Tragedy/Comedy masks are a common theme used in theatre, art and popular culture.

Originating from Greek mythology Melpomene & Thalia - daughters of Zeus.

Melpomene - the muse of tragedy

Thalia - the muse of comedy

The masks are always depicted together, representing the extremes of human emotion. The duality is prevalent, one doesn't appear without the other. This further underpins my previous research into the sad clown paradox - rooted in the Pagliacci story of the clown who appears out of costume to a doctor suffering with depression - the doctor advises him to go and visit the clown for some comic relief. However, he is the clown. The sad clown paradox identifies the link between comedy performers and poor mental health. One cannot exist without the other. My piece 'Forsaken' is underpinned by this theory that sadness and humour are symbiotic, as are agony and joy. We need one to experience the other.

Graffiti piece by Slae One, London, 2024