Because We Need to Keep Shouting: #NODAPL

"DRAW OUT POISON" by Monica Canilao and Eric Loundy. Photo by Luna Park.

Every day brings another insane something from the Cheeto president. This week, we honestly struggled with what poster to install, because we have a few that would have commented on the issues of the week. In solidarity with the water protectors at Standing Rock and around the country, we decided on this work by Monica Canilao and Eric Loundy.

Eric adds, "We're participating in this project to raise awareness and ultimately resistance against the current administration's development of orders and actions that lead to vile and inhumane environmental degradation, especially the Dakota Access Pipeline and Keystone XL. This image was humbly created in solidarity with the Water Protectors of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and all Natives and allies standing up on the front-line in resistance to the advancement of the DAPL."

"DRAW OUT POISON" by Monica Canilao and Eric Loundy. Photo by Luna Park.

On a personal level, it's an honor to be working with Eric and Monica, whose work we've admired from afar for years. Art in Ad Places has been an interesting process of reaching out a lot of complete strangers and asking them to take part in something a bit outside of the norm. It's been inspiring to see so many artists jump at the opportunity, and then use their space for such important messages.

On a more macro philosophical level, this #NODAPL poster is a great example of what Art in Ad Places is about. Advertising makes people act selfishly and consume more, neither of which are good for society as a whole, or the environment. In a perfect world, we wouldn't be so selfish, and if people weren't so selfish, we wouldn't even need a #NODAPL campaign. We all know, intuitively, that water is life, not Coca Cola. It's unrelenting advertising that wears us down until we think otherwise.

"DRAW OUT POISON" by Monica Canilao and Eric Loundy. Photo by Luna Park.

PS, shout out to the fantastic Decolonize This Place, whose sticker appeared in on this pay phone shortly after these photos were taken.

American History is...

"AMERICAN HISTORY" (2016) by Jeffrey Gibson. Wool, steel studs, glass beads, artificial sinew, metal jingles, acrylic yarn, nylon fringe, canvas. Image courtesy of Jeffrey Gibson Studio. Original photograph by Peter Mauney. Installation photograph by Luna Park.

"American history is longer, larger, more beautiful, and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it." - James Baldwin

Thanks to Jeffrey Gibson for contributing this especially powerful work to Art in Ad Places. If anyone out there is wondering whether we put thought into when we install each Art in Ad Places poster, this should be your answer.

Reflecting on this work, Gibson said "James Baldwin's words speak volumes to me everyday but at this time in particular they remind me that this time will pass. Be cautious but don't be afraid. Unite in peace and compassion in the face of fear and hate. Be well and kind to each other."

"AMERICAN HISTORY" (2016) by Jeffrey Gibson. Wool, steel studs, glass beads, artificial sinew, metal jingles, acrylic yarn, nylon fringe, canvas. Image courtesy of Jeffrey Gibson Studio. Original photograph by Peter Mauney. Installation photograph by RJ Rushmore.

Week two: Kristen Liu-Wong on the Bowery

"Still Life with Head" (2016) by Kristen Liu-Wong. Photo by Luna Park.

Last week's launch really surprised us. We hoped people would like what we were up to, but we weren't expecting that Hyperallergic's article would do quite so well, or that we'd get a mention in Artforum. I guess people are excited.

Unfortunately, the company that manages the payphone we installed our first poster in also noticed. They are not as excited as the rest of us. Adam Wallacavage's poster is already gone, and it's been replaced with an ad. In the future, we won't be revealing the exact locations of our installations while they're still up, in the hope that they'll last a bit longer if we don't share that info.

This week's poster is from Kristen Liu-Wong, an artist out of LA who has shown at Swizz Beatz' No Commission fair and New Image Art in LA, among other places. We really love Kristen's work, and apparently other people do too, because we think an overzealous fan stole her poster off the street a few days after it went up! Luckily, the fantastic Jaime Rojo from Brooklyn Street Art was able to stop by just in time, and Kristen's poster can be found in BSA's Images of the Week.

Next week promises to be one of the strangest week's in our nation's history, to put it mildly. We'll be sure to reflect that in the next Art in Ad Places installation, so keep an eye out.

And remember, you can follow Art in Ad Places on Instagram or like us on Facebook.

And We're Off... Art in Ad Places Launches

Artwork by Adam Wallacavage. Photo by Luna Park.

Today we launch Art in Ad Places, a 52-week public art project replacing NYC advertisements with artwork. Every week, starting this week and continuing for a full year, AiAP will install a new artwork by a different artist at a payphone in New York City. AiAP is an active and artistic response to the unending proliferation of outdoor advertising in New York City and elsewhere.

Artwork by Adam Wallacavage. Photo by Luna Park.

AiAP kicked off with an installation by Adam Wallacavage, who told Hyperallergic, "I like the idea of someone seeing my piece and wondering what they’re supposed to be buying or where the nonexistent punchline is." The poster, from Wallacavage's Shipwrecks of Unicorn Beach series, can be found the corner of Lorimer Street and Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Keep an eye on this site, and follow AiAP on Instagram and Facebook, to stay up to date with future installations.