Interstate 50

The title of this on-going series takes its name from a non-existent freeway: Interstate 50.   These images of blank billboards serve to document my travels through undesirable territories- undesirable at least from an advertiser's perspective. Through their ability to shout silence, the billboards stand as monuments to insignificant places.   You know you are nowhere when you see a blank billboard.  I began this on-going series in 1992 and the first exhibition took place in 1998. Newer addtions were exhibited in 2008.   Prints are either 30" x 45" or 24" x 36" in editions of 7.

Interstate 50: GA 01

Interstate 50: SD 01

[blank]

With [blank], I also address voided text and imagery, but in a different context and scale. Urban walls that have been defaced are often covered with a patch of paint to sanitize existing graffiti and to discourage future tagging.  Sometimes there is an attempt to match the wall’s existing background color, other times the color is arbitrary.  Layers of these systematic retractions can build up over time and inadvertently reference a host of artists (Kasimir Malevich, Mark Rothko, and Sean Scully). Like blank billboards, these surfaces are anything but empty.

[blank] Leadville 001

[blank] New Orleans 010