billboards as art

i used to drive past a billboard on la brea everyday on my way to work

from what i remember it was a pretty understated group portrait scene, no branding or logos, not obviously art and no sign posts to it being a special project

it felt like it’d been there forever. i liked that it was a nice image in an advertising space but it wasn’t asking anything of me. it also wasn’t a mural with tags and IG handles

here’s an even more ambiguous one i came across in los feliz years ago:

i’m sure i would’ve seen women in the city in 2008, i wish i could remember! there were works by jenny holzer, barbara kruger, louise lawler, and cindy sherman all over the city in unexpected spaces like billboards, theatres, bus shelters, like this one -

Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still, (1977-1980/2008)

i’m discovering now you can seek out current art billboard projects in LA like at the billboard creative or the UNDEFEATED billboard project on la brea. maybe that’s what i’d been seeing on my way to work years ago?

Mike Mills, Coyote, 2007. Los Angeles, Undftd Billboards.

but what i really love is the idea of these encounters happening unexpectedly, with no information provided and avoiding the natural pull to place what i’m seeing into an art-world context.

these minimal context, natural sky-scape billboards are so dreamy to me. less art, more backdrop.

Jennifer Bolande, Visible Distance / Second Sight, 2017. Site specific project, produced by Desert X, in Palm Springs, CA.

Felix Gonzalez-Torres, “Untitled” (Strange Bird), 1993. 2659 Eglinton Ave. E. (at Danforth Ave.), Toronto, Canada. 1 of 6 outdoor billboard locations throughout Toronto from 3 – 30 May 2022, as part of “Untitled” (Strange Bird). Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada. 3 – 30 May 2022.

Stephen Shore U.S. 97, South of Klamath Falls, Oregon, July 21, 1973. Chromogenic color print.

Brian Kane, Healing Tool, Boston, 93 Southbound, July 8, 2015

this is a lead in for a new art work reveal! i’ve found my way back to non-art material printing, looking at images less for subject and more for surface. blowing them up, degrading the quality, losing information.

stay tuned friends & fam.