Do you ever feel bombarded by the endless sea of commercial messages surrounding your daily life?
Yeah, same.

For year, my boss and native Angelino, Linda Wehrli has been fantasizing about swapping out a number of billboard ads with beautiful drawings or paintings by living artists.

Last year, she happened across an article by the non-profit art organization The Billboard Creative. TBC’s aim is to replace advertising with original art for an entire month at some of the busiest intersections throughout LA. These “open-air galleries” can be found at major junctions such as Sunset and Vine, Beverly and Laurel, and Hollywood and Western. Linda said she “found her tribe”!

Considering board locations

We were delighted to learn that TBC’s aspirations run deeper than just beautifying the streets of Los Angeles. Their profound purpose is: To help emerging and underrepresented artists break through traditional career bottlenecks by raising their profile with the public and the arts community, and to bring art to city streets making it as accessible as the numerous billboards we view every day.

This purpose aligns with and is dear to our hearts. At Pastimes, in addition to partnering with local businesses to exhibit up-and-coming student artists, we love discovering and promoting art organizations that do the same for artists ready to launch their careers.

Not only does TBC connect emerging and underrepresented artists with a mass audience, but they also add a dose of contemporary art into the everyday lives of Angelinos. Art on your morning commute? Sounds good to me!

This is how it works: shows are led by a guest curator and employ and include a blind submission model. Artwork from well-known guest artists, like Ed Ruscha, Lawrence Weiner, and Paul McCarthy, are hung throughout the show alongside works from less-established artists to help promote their work.

 

Paul McCarthy in front of his board

Mapping board locations

 

The Billboard Creative is made possible by:
Adam Santelli, Founding Director
Kim Kerscher, Director
Mona Kuhn, Creative Director
Korey Kerscher, Director

 

Interested in submitting? Good news!
Submissions are now open for The Billboard Creative’s 5th Annual Billboard Exhibition.
October 20th, 2019 submission deadline.

 

For this show, TBC ais teaming with the founder of the leading national arts non-profit Artadia. Artspace founder, Christopher Vroom will be this year’s curator.

 

The show collaborates with Third Eye to promote the show. There will be articles about the show in the Huffington Post, LA Times, Creators Project, Art Talk, and many more!

 

Maps of each artist’s billboard location include the artists’ website and about-the-artist info. MapMe was used to build the maps which are posted on their website, and easily accessed on smartphones.

 

The work stays up for a month (part of that month is used for install and take down of the work).

 

For details, please visit TBC’s official Submission page . Please feel free to email them with any questions.
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Pastimes For a Lifetime Art and Piano School is located in Valley Glen, California. 818-766-0614. School is open Tuesday – Saturday year round, except major holidays.

 

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