Skip to content

Events

Art & Art History

The Billboard Project

Friday, November 20, 1992–Saturday, January 23, 1993

View times

Artists: Yvette Brackman, Michael Glass, John H. Greiner, Arturo Herrera, Bonnie Hughes, Diane Lea, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Brooke Multack, Sungmi Naylor, Veronika Romero, Susan Sensemann, and John Terdich

The Billboard Project is a juried exhibition that takes place not only in Gallery 400 but also on the streets of Chicago. The gallery displays seventy competition entries, from which ten designs were chosen to be posted on billboards across the city, conveying varied public service and artistic messages. The winners of the contest—eleven students, faculty, and alumni from UIC’s School of Art and Design—relay messages concerning AIDS, education, safe driving, and art, among other topics, and are on display for a month on billboards, courtesy of the Patrick Media Group, one of the nation’s largest providers of outdoor advertising.

The idea for The Billboard Project grew out of a discussion about how UIC artists could exchange ideas with the community. John Terdich, a UIC graduate working at Patrick Media Group, suggested bringing his employer into the project. In keeping with Gallery 400’s desire to connect the arts to other parts of the Chicago community, The Billboard Project was conceived as an intersection—an educational and artistic exchange among businesses for the benefit of a wider metropolitan audience. Since the billboards will be seen by an audience that might not choose to visit the gallery, the billboards are a vital new avenue into communities, and they provide the participating artists with a unique opportunity to work within an uncommonly public and larger-than-life format.

Competition winners include undergraduates Diane Lea, Brooke Multack, and Veronika Romero; graduate students Yvette Brachman and Sungmi Naylor; School of Art and Design alumni Arturo Herrera and Bonnie Hughes; UIC associate professors of art and design Michael Glass, John H. Greiner, and Susan Sensemann; and UIC adjunct assistant professor Inigo Mañglano-Ovalle. The ten billboards (two of the eleven winners collaborated on one design), are on view for a month beginning the first week in November. The billboards address such varied topics as AIDS and safe sex, anti-gang sentiments, Native Americans, the promotion of literacy, or artistic concepts. Lynne Sowder, a curator who has worked on public art awareness campaigns in Chicago and San Francisco, will speak at the reception. A bus tour of the billboards, sponsored by the school’s alumni organization, is available following her presentation.

PRINT COLLATERAL

Poster: Billboard Project – Reception

Flyer: Billboard Project

EXHIBITION CHECKLIST

Yvette Brackman

Michael Glass

John Greiner

Weapon 2, 1992
Poster paint on paper, 12 1/4 x 24 1/4 ft.

Arturo Herrera

Without You I’m Nothing, 1992
Poster paint on paper, 12 1/4 x 24 1/4 ft.

Bonnie Hughes

Between Opposites
, 1992
Poster paint on paper, 12 1/4 x 24 1/4 ft.

Diane Lea

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle

Divided Colors, 1992
Poster paint on paper, 12 1/4 x 24 1/4 ft.

Brooke Multack

Basic Problem-Solving Tools, 1992
Poster paint on paper, 12 1/4 x 24 1/4 ft.

Sungmi Naylor

Veronika Romero

Susan Sensemann

John Terdich

Cast the First, 1992
Poster paint on paper, 12 1/4 x 24 1/4 ft.

Karen Indeck Head ShotKaren Indeck has been the curator and director of Gallery 400 and the Visiting Artists-in-Residence Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago since 1986. Her curated shows include NATURE/nature (1990) and FAXART (1990). Indeck received a BFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

MEDIA COVERAGE

Huebner, Jeff. “Outspoken Art: UIC Artists Do Billboards.” Newcity, Dec. 24, 1992, p. 17.

Weymiller, David. “Artist’s Expressions Make the Big Canvas.” UIC News, Nov. 18, 1992, pp. 8–9.

PRESS RELEASE

The Billboard Project

Gallery 400
Chicago, IL
November 20, 1992–January 23, 1993

Opening Reception: November 20, 1992

Thanks to one of the nation’s largest providers of outdoor advertising, the winners of a recent contest at the University of Illinois at Chicago are going public in a big way. Eleven students, faculty, and alumni from UIC ’s School of Art and Design will have their messages—on AIDS, education, safe driving, and art, among other topics—displayed on billboards for a month, courtesy of the Patrick Media Group.

The ten billboards (two of the eleven winners collaborated on one design) will go up the first week in November and will remain on display for about a month. They were chosen from among some seventy entries submitted by current art students, art and design faculty, and graduates of the school.

The School of Art and Design is holding a reception on November 20 at the GBU Gallery on campus to display all the competition entries. Lynne Sowder, a curator who has worked on public art awareness campaigns in Chicago and San Francisco, is speaking. An alumni-sponsored bus tour of the billboards will follow her presentation.

According to Karen Indeck, curator of UIC ’s Gallery 400, the project grew out of a discussion earlier this year about how UIC artists could exchange ideas with the community. John Terdich, a UIC graduate working at Patrick Media Group, suggested bringing his employer into the project.

The results include two entries on AIDS and safe sex, one with an anti-gang message, one about Native Americans, one promoting literacy, and the remaining four expressing artistic concepts.

“We feel that this program can create an important intersection and artistic exchange among businesses, education, and the city and can benefit a wide metropolitan audience,” Indeck said. “The billboards provide an avenue into communities and a frame in which artists can address those communities in a vital new way.”

Patrick Media Group, headquartered in Chicago, is a national outdoor advertising company that offers coverage in more than twenty markets, nine of which are among the top twenty-five in the nation based on population.

According to Paul V. Sara, vice president and general manager, “Patrick’s billboard donation provides the artists with a means of expressing their creativity to the community in a larger-than·life format. The billboards become an extension of the artists’ canvas.”

Competition winners include undergraduates Diane Lea, Brooke Multack, and Veronika Romero; graduate students Yvette Brackman and Sungmi Naylor; School of Art and Design alumni Arturo Herrera and Bonnie Hughes; UIC associate professors of art and design Michael Glass, John H. Greiner, and Susan Sensemann, and UIC adjunct assistant professor Iñigo Mangolano-Ovalle.

EXHIBITION SUPPORT

The Billboard Project is supported by the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Art and Design’s College of Architecture, Art, and Urban Planning.