Head on down the The Sheen Center, 18 Bleeker Street for The Signature Project, one of the most unique and exhilarating art display’s and performance’s I have seen. This show will leave you uplifted, in awe and wanting to add your signature to the 76-foot by 36-foot mural, layered with hidden secrets. Patrick Dunning conceived of The Signature Project in 1992. His goal is “to create a new art form, a digital tapestry that can be completed only by collaborating with over one million people.”

Patrick Dunning Photo: Ingrid Butler

The Signature Project is more than just one thing. This Irish-American artist tours the U.S. and the world telling his story. Originally from Dublin, Ireland, he now lives in Portland, Oregon. Under the direction of Eric Paul Vitale, the ensemble of actors, dancers and musicians bring his vision alive in a way you have to experience to understand.

Patrick Dunning, Cat Patterson, Melissa MaricichI Photo: Ingrid Butler

Everyone has a spark of creativity within them, but Patrick Dunning is a visionary emerged in hurricane of inventive originality. The painting itself is comprised of individual signatures, but underneath morse code, ultra violet light, x-ray phosphorescent paint and music are there to be unearthed. This monumental project has become a powerful live performance, and is a combination of theater, performance art, visual arts, music, mathematics, science, technology, and cultural diversity. Each person’s colored signature on canvas is like a stitch in a tapestry that includes images of the earth, moon, sun, stars, and galaxy. The sun’s center has a radiating white heart even brighter than the sun. It’s a cosmic landscape. There’s even a Theremin hidden inside. The show evokes a plethora of emotions and by the end you feel honored to become a part of this piece. Already over 300,000 people have become the fabric of this monumental art work. The painting and the play is constantly changing and evolving, so the truth of the story also changes.

Patrick Dunning Photos: Ingrid Butler

Right now besides the mural another art project has emerged. Tape balls made from the used Gaffer’s tape from the show, have been turned into small balls, about the size of a golf ball.  With over a thousand of them, Mr. Dunning is now creating a stop motion animation. 

Mr. Dunning is also an exquisite guitar player and along with Emily Ducan, Cody Marcukaitis, Melissa Maricich and Cat Peterson they bring the music of Brian Dunning, Patrick’s brother’s compositions alive. In a sense this is a family show as Mr. Dunning’s brother and father are emerged in the painting.