A snow-covered car usually means a cold chore before breakfast. In Faust’s hands, it can also become a small, unexpected artwork. Loops sweep across bonnets, letters lean into one another, and a plain windscreen suddenly looks like a calligrapher’s page.
The New York artist’s snow-lettering collection circulated in 2015. Its pleasure is immediate: something ordinary has been given a moment of care, even though the next thaw or brush of a snow scraper will erase it.
Follow the spaces as well as the letters
The flourishes are eye-catching, but the empty spaces do much of the work. Notice how a large loop balances a cluster of smaller letters. The words occupy the panel without becoming an unreadable tangle, and the surrounding snow gives each dark stroke a clear edge.
This is a useful way to look at decorative lettering anywhere. Start with the overall shape, then follow one line through the composition. A successful flourish usually supports the word’s rhythm instead of merely filling a gap.
A surface that changes the artwork
Snow supplies both the background and the material being moved. Its depth and texture affect the marks, while the shape of the car sets the boundaries. The result belongs to that particular surface and winter moment; a photograph preserves something that was never meant to last.
If the idea makes your fingers itch, experiment on a snow-covered surface you own or have permission to use. Start with a short word and leave generous space around it. Paper is a good place to practise those sweeping shapes before taking them outdoors.
For another view of the same city transformed by snow, explore Vivienne Gucwa’s winter photographs of New York. Winter also creates its own temporary designs in these ice shells left behind by parked cars.
The letterforms use the whole surface
Faust’s original explanation linked the work to the childhood urge to write in snow. His short remark, “I guess I just haven’t been able to shake it,” gives the series a personal tone without requiring a biography to explain every flourish. The collection takes an ordinary impulse and applies the attention of an experienced letterer to it.
The bonnet and windscreen act as different kinds of page. One presents a broad curved surface; the other has a steeper angle and a frame defined by the vehicle. Large loops, compressed letters and empty spaces respond to those boundaries. Looking at the negative space between strokes can reveal the composition even when the lettering is difficult to read at first glance.
The temporary medium matters as much as the words. Snow records a gesture clearly and then changes through weather or the owner’s need to use the car. The photograph preserves a moment that the physical surface was never likely to keep. That can be appreciated without assuming permission to draw on someone else’s vehicle: the artistic interest lies in the finished letterforms and their brief encounter with an everyday object.
Sources, photography and further reading
Original feature and image attributions:
- Bored Panda
- He Built A Tunnel Through The Snow. Where It Ends? BRILLIANT!
- What This Couple Built In Their Snowy Backyard Made Me Insanely Jealous. Seriously…Wow.
- Top 10 Coolest Snow Buildings
- These Artists Made A Roaring Campfire Out Of Freshly Fallen Snow
- When This Dad’s Neighbors See What He Built In His Backyard, They’re Going To Be So Jealous.
- This Guy’s Crazy Idea Started To Make His Wife Nervous. But It Was All Worth It, Trust Me.
- Faust; photographs from the original collection
- Vivienne Gucwa’s winter photographs of New York
- ice shells left behind by parked cars
FFS, that's NOT typography. It's calligraphy!
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