THE ARTIST'S SIGNATURE

From the time we first begin painting, we start to think about our signature. There are different reasons for a signature.  Mainly it indicates the artist owns up to doing the painting! There are times when we would rather not claim it … so we don’t sign it. But if we persist with the painting until we are happy with it then we are likely to complete it with a signature.   And it is worth thinking about that signature, particularly early on.  After all it’s how other people know whose work they’re looking at.

In the absence of a catalogue or other indications of who the artist might be, a signature is especially important and for this reason it needs to be legible. If you’re famous, a fancy flourish that is unreadable may be enough.  But for most of us, a signature on our paintings is like a brand – we can’t afford for it to be misunderstood. Get onto Google and look up the signatures of some famous artists – they’re all there.

You’ll notice how unremarkable most of them are and their main feature is that they can be understood. There are quite a few styles that artists use when it comes to signatures. Some do initials, others just a surname and others a combination of an initial and surname. I started off with just BARR but then realised there are quite a number of artists with the same name. Mike Barr came next and I practiced on a big piece of paper until I was happy.

There was a time when some artists tried to hide their gender by not signing their first name. We may as well own up to it though because buyers want to know who the artist actually is! Gender is not an issue in the purchasing process in today’s retail art world – sales figures prove that. Like all logos, it’s best not to change them, at least not too often. People look for recognisable things particularly signatures on paintings.  In the retail world some of the best logos haven’t changed in 100 years and there is a reason for that!.

Happy painting

Mike Barr

Waymouth Street