Project brings art to digital billboards

Motorists in the Goodwood area may have noticed something unusual breaking through the din of travel and traffic Saturday.

A digital billboard rented by the Billboard Art Project, an organization turning the giant LED signs into temporary galleries, displayed 24 hours of artwork, rotating through 1,200 unique images submitted from all over the world.

Project founder David Morrison rented his first billboard about a year ago in Richmond, Va. Since then, the project has hosted larger-than-life art shows in eight cities, including New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

Located near the intersection of Goodwood and Tara boulevards, Morrison said Saturday's show had some of the most local artist participation the project has ever seen.

"That's one of the interesting things about Baton Rouge and New Orleans," Morrison said. "There have been grassroots efforts to get people to come out and see the billboards. It is a testament to the arts culture here in Louisiana. The involvement here has been fabulous."

Artists can submit multiple original photographs, computer-generated images, paintings and other forms of art that can be digitized for the project, free of charge.

Morrison said the project accepts almost all submitted work.

"This is not about us curating a particular breed of artwork," he said. "In this day and age, you can't find a person who doesn't feel disenfranchised by large corporations or the government. People feel they aren't being heard or they don't have a voice. This is an opportunity for them to put what they want up there."

Ron Stasko, an artist from Darrow, La., has participated in three different billboard shows.

Stasko said projects like this can help build artists' confidence and gives them exposure they might not normally have.

"You're up on a billboard," he said. "Your art is larger than life in the sky for people to see it up there. It's like, ‘Wow, that's pretty impressive.' That drew me to the project."

To date, funding for the project has come entirely from Morrison's personal savings. The Billboard Art Project has filed for federal nonprofit tax status and once approved, Morrison said funding will be able to come from private donors, grants and corporate sponsors to get more artwork on billboards for a longer period of time.

Morrison said the cost varies depending on the market, but the 24-hour show in Richmond cost about $1,400. The Baton Rouge 24-hour show cost Morrison $2,000.

Morrison said the project works on many different levels, allowing people to express themselves in a big way and gives passersby something to think about.

"[When] you're on your way to work, instead of having some advertisement telling you what TV station to watch or what radio station to tune in to, it's giving you something instead of telling you to do something," he said. "It's profound."

Morrison said more shows are in the works for the future and the Billboard Art Project hopes to eventually incorporate sound with the images in a unique way.

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Contact Morgan Searles at msearles@lsureveille.com