SIGNS TO RECOMPOSE CITY Urban Signs Paintings by Alex Kanos

Signs to Recompose City

I try to recompose streets with plenty of signs and building on canvas and I continue to explore how these visual elements shape our perception of modern cities.

During my graffiti travel in Hong-Kong i was inspired by plenty of neon signs in the Streets.

I continue to explore how these visual elements shape our perception of modern cities.

Signs to Recompose City is a series of acrylic paintings developed from photographs collected during my travels in Hong Kong, Macau and New York. The project focuses on one of the most common yet overlooked components of contemporary urban life: signs. Storefronts, advertisements, neon lights, directional information and commercial displays form a visual layer that constantly surrounds us and influences the way we experience the city.

The starting point of this series was a long observation of urban environments characterized by a high concentration of visual information. Hong Kong became a major source of inspiration due to its spectacular density of signs, particularly in districts where neon lights and commercial displays occupy nearly every available surface. Similar observations were later made in Macao and New York, two cities with their own distinctive visual identities but which also share an accumulation of signs competing for attention.

The process begins with photography. During my travels, I collect hundreds of images documenting urban environments. Rather than focusing on architecture alone, I search for locations where signs dominate the landscape and become the primary structure of the street. These photographs act as visual archives that are later transformed into painted compositions.

Once collected, the images are deconstructed and reorganized. Buildings, streets and urban elements are reduced or partially removed, allowing the signs themselves to become the central subject. By isolating these fragments from their original context, the paintings reveal how much of our urban perception is actually built through visual communication systems.

The accumulation of signs creates a unique form of urban architecture. In many contemporary cities, signs no longer simply occupy buildings; they become part of the structure itself. They define spaces, attract movement and guide behavior. Their presence is so constant that they often become invisible despite their visual dominance.

This paradox is at the heart of the project. By removing secondary elements and concentrating attention on signs alone, the paintings expose the extraordinary quantity of visual messages surrounding us every day. What normally appears as background noise suddenly becomes the main subject.

The work is also connected to broader questions about semiotics and urban culture. Every sign carries information, but its meaning depends on context, language and interpretation. When signs are fragmented and recomposed, they shift from functional objects to visual forms. Letters become shapes, advertisements become abstract compositions and commercial communication transforms into aesthetic material.

The use of acrylic paint reinforces this transformation. Unlike photography, painting introduces a process of selection and interpretation. Colors, shapes and contrasts are reconstructed manually, creating a distance between the original image and the final artwork. The paintings are therefore not reproductions of reality but visual translations of urban experience.

This approach is closely related to my broader interest in cities, technology and visual systems. Across different projects, I explore how human environments are shaped by layers of information. Signs represent one of the most visible manifestations of this phenomenon.

Signs to Recompose City ultimately documents a complete artistic process: traveling, observing, photographing, collecting visual material, transforming it into graphic compositions and finally translating it into acrylic paintings. The resulting works invite viewers to reconsider the visual structures that define contemporary urban life and to reflect on the overwhelming quantity of signs that constantly surround us.