Decoder Ring: The Sign Painter
Slow Burn
Slate Audio
4.6 • 25.2K Ratings
🗓️ 22 July 2021
⏱️ 62 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Decoder Ring is Slate's show about cracking cultural mysteries. In each episode, host Willa Paskin takes a cultural question, object, or habit, examines its history, and tries to figure out what it means and why it matters.
This episode introduces you to Ilona Granet, who was a New York art-scene fixture who won the praise of the art world when she put up anti-harassment street signs in lower Manhattan in the mid- 1980s. Her career seemed like a sure thing, but three decades on, and so much more art later, it still hasn’t materialized, even as her contemporaries are now hanging in museums. This episode is not about the familiar myth of making it, but the mystery of not making it. What happens, to an artist—to anyone—when they’re good enough, but that’s not enough?
If you like the show, subscribe to Decoder Ring on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, Slow Burn listeners, Joel Anderson here. We're working hard on our next season of Slow Burn, |
| 0:04.7 | about the LA riots, which will be premiering in November. But in the meantime, we wanted to share |
| 0:10.1 | with you an episode from one of Slate's other documentary podcast, Decoder Ring. Decoder |
| 0:15.4 | Ring is like Slow Burn, but for culture. Each episode, Decoder Ring tackles a different cultural |
| 0:20.7 | mystery, like, |
| 0:21.9 | why did the laugh track become so uncool? Where did the Karen come from? And why are tabloids so |
| 0:27.6 | obsessed with Jennifer Aniston? Right now, they're in the middle of a brand new season of shows, |
| 0:32.9 | including the episode we've got for you today. This is a personal investigation for Dakota Rings host, |
| 0:38.5 | Willa Paskin. It's the story of an artist who was once the toast of the New York art world |
| 0:43.6 | in order to get in an almost cosmic mystery. What happens when you're good enough? But that's not good |
| 0:49.2 | enough. It's funny, it's emotional, and it's getting at things I'm not sure I've ever heard in a podcast |
| 0:54.7 | before. |
| 0:55.6 | If you like this episode, we hope you'll go subscribe to Decoder Ring in its own feed. |
| 1:00.7 | There's dozens more episodes there to binge on after this one. |
| 1:03.9 | So, without further ado, this is The Sign Painter. |
| 1:14.4 | Before, the sign painter. Before we start, I want to let you know that this episode contains multiple descriptions of |
| 1:19.1 | sexual assault and a reference to suicide. |
| 1:24.8 | Hi, how are you? |
| 1:26.3 | I'm sorry. |
| 1:28.0 | You didn't do anything wrong, yeah. |
| 1:30.1 | Okay. |
| 1:31.2 | My first words, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. |
... |
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