As free standing well placed street furniture, commercial billboards provide their own framing device for anyone who would like to communicate their message and increasingly their use in the public sphere is being debated. Billboard “takeovers” have often been the purview of “culture jammers” or “ad busters” since at least the 1970s, where the intent is to hijack the original commercial message to illuminate a social or political one. In more recent years a number of more traditional artists have been simply reclaiming this private message space as a canvas, an opportunity to display a bit of individual creativity.
OX in Troyes, France. July 2012. (photo © OX)
In new billboard takeovers from French Street Artist OX, the billboard is part of a visual conversation with its environment. Other times his geometric simplicity stands on its own without commentary but typically his ingenious incorporation of context brings the simple takeover to serve a higher purpose than drawing attention to itself. By treating the billboard as an element in a holistic field of play, a passerby may see everything around it in a new perspective, or see it for the first time. Without lecturing, this visual humorist opens the conversation about the appropriate use of public space for messages, and art.
OX in Troyes, France. July 2012. (photo © OX)
OX in Brooklyn. Spring 2010. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
OX in Brooklyn. Spring 2010. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA
Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!
<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA
Other Articles You May Like from BSA:
Yes, Street Art is ephemeral, but OKUDA San Miguel just set it on fire! Okuda applies finish touches to his Falla. Fallas 2018. Valencia, Spain. (photo © Martha Cooper) During the annual Falles ...
The leaves in Central Park are aflame and so are the passions of Street Art fans (and artists) this week in New York where the general public is now conditioned to be on alert for a near-daily ann...
ALL BOLD CAPS. Early graffiti train writers knew they could gain their widest audience on elevated train tracks the same way cigarette manufacturers broadcast from billboards looming above streets. B...
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities. Now screening: 1. "We Run NYC" and the Return of Wholecar Graffiti Pieces2. MADC1 in Abu Dhabi via Tost Films3...
Sara Lynne-Leo. Debbie Downer. (photo © Jaime Rojo) Sara Lynn-Leo. Well-placed, well-rendered, witty, insightful, incisive. These are hallmarks of the miniature pieces of street art that New Yorker...