Billboard Hijack in Hollywood

With projections and QR codes capturing the fancy of the out of door advertising world, it’s kind of retro to see subtle repurposing of messaging via good old wheatpaste and paint. In the tradition of Billboard Liberation Front, (a collective old enough to be their parents probably), LA Street Art collective Desire Obtain Cherish did a bit of message adjusting recently that actually ran for weeks in Los Angeles.  Rather than culture jamming or anti-corporate messaging in an activist vein however, the billboard features their name – in effect making one ad into another.

Relative Street Art startups, the DOC have been outdoor wallpapering with blocked bold lettered black and white wheat pastes a la Revs/COST, a Marilyn wigged gas-masked militia officer, and staged public “installations” roped off on the street with branded police tape.  This custom color-matched billboard takeover is just the kind of work that makes advertisers nervous because of it’s subtlety. As street art and advertising techniques continue to go mainstream and become arrows in the quivers of a generation of artists, it’s going to be even more confounding to know what the message really is, and who it’s from.

Desire Obtain Cherish

Desire Obtain Cherish

All images copyright Desire Obtain Cherish

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