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:
Urban exploring and sustainable art-making are not such strange relations in this new project by Gilf! and BAMN, two of the new socially conscious breed of Street Artists we continue to see. Known for...
Sometimes an enterprising artist creates their own initiative in a city and invites friends to come and paint walls that they secure – a small campaign or informal "festival, if you will. SEPE. OD...
OverUnder and NDA took a trip to CDMX over the weekend and say they “hit the ground running”. The street artists/muralists have been running the streets of various cities over the last 10-15(?) years...
Our weekly focus is on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities. Now screening:1. Edoardo Tresoldi Studio Visit 2. Homemade Security Patrol Robot by Handy Geng.First-Cent...
The Italian street art interventionist named Fra. Biancoshock loves to reinvent space – especially public space. Biancoshock. "Cannot - 2022". Lodi, Italy. (photo © Biancoshock) Always on the l...