Robert Cottingham lives and works on an eighteenth century New England farm, but the subject matter he paints is strictly urban. Tattoo parlors, seamy bar fronts, five-and-dime stores, trashy movie marquees, or the advertising on a pancake house are all the urban symbols he utilizes to construct his complex paintings. He ferrets out the architectural details, symbols, and letter fragments of facades from the 1940s and '50s, giving us a glimpse of a true American folk art; garish, trite, yet somehow endearing.

Cottingham finds more than just the materials of a sign fascinating. "Commercial signs are amazing" he says. "Here are these elaborate, monumental structures designed solely to tell you that this is where you can...