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An ambitious collaboration between street artist Maser and singer-songwriter Damien Dempsey has been using the streets of Dublin as a canvas, covering it with bold statements and murals. It’s a project that drew inspiration from the forgotten art of traditional signwriting – and one signwriter in particular, the late Kevin Freeney, writes Davin O’Dwyer

DUBLIN’S METAMORPHOSIS over the past 30 years tends to be discussed in terms the big buildings and bridges that have risen on the skyline, and the sprawl that has developed on the periphery, but at street level, the city has lost one of its most distinguishing characteristics: the exquisite hand-painted signs and shopfronts that added so much character to our urban spaces.