William Marvel: Signification

It's difficult to deny that the large painting over my old haunt at Leavitt's Country Bakery constitutes a sign, even by common definition. The painting (which many seem to consider a mural, although it isn't painted on a wall) depicts an assortment of sugary baked goods sold by the business beneath it, and it stands in direct line of sight with what is probably the allowable portion of the sign, on which the name of the business is displayed. In a town with a sign ordinance that often becomes a matter of public discussion, that ought to have triggered some inquiry about the definition of a sign in the town code, and what limits there might be.

The issue was erroneously defined as a simple question of whether it was a sign, or art. It could be both, and it is. Signs need no words, as Horsefeather's Restaurant imaginatively demonstrated long ago.