The Art of Advertising

Last week the MAK Center for Art and Architecture celebrated the conclusion of its seminal public arts project, “How Many Billboards? Art In Stead.” In an attempt to infuse art into an urban context where it is least expected, and draw attention to the conspicuousness of outdoor advertising in Los Angeles, the Center commissioned 21 artists to create large works that would occupy billboards across the city. From Silver Lake to West LA, drivers were greeted with surprising, sometimes subversive visual messages in place of the banal movie posters to which they were so accustomed. Supplementing the short-lived outdoor exhibition were a number of panel discussions organized by the Center around the often conflicting roles of public art and outdoor advertising. Unfortunately the session I attended seemed to be more of a town hall protest against the greedy lawlessness of the media companies rather than an academic discussion of art and commerce in the city. I have long believed that, with its year-round sunshine, car-obsessed sprawl, and of course its playing host to the film industry, LA is a city suited perfectly to—and in part developed from—a culture of spectacle. Our greatest landmark originated as an advertisement for a housing development, and the two biggest additions to our skyline in recent memory (LA Live and the Hollywood W) have paid painstaking attention to the inclusion of paid signage and outdoor media. The city’s main excuse for opposing big new outdoor advertisements is the fact that, unlike observers in Times Square or Tokyo’s Shibuya, LA’s eyes remain defiantly behind steel and glass cages hurtling by at speeds not suited to even temporary distraction. We are a city obsessed with and defined by our visual culture. This is a reality that makes a temporary citywide art show just as interesting as the capitalist establishment it seeks to question.

Click here to see photos and descriptions of the billboards.