It’s August, and under the Cermak and Western viaduct, scraps of plastic, broken glass, and discarded chicken bones collect like autumn leaves. A line of yellow freight cars languishes on the tracks above. Near an LED sign for a grocery store, a new billboard is striking in its starkness. But it’s not an ad. Rather, it’s a black-and-white drawing of two proud black farmworkers.
The project’s execution, however, was not without drawbacks. Financed by the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, which donated the exhibition space, Art Everywhere US was easily confused with a cheesy marketing stunt—and therefore all too easy to dismiss. In Times Square, digital signs flashed art amid the usual rotation of ads for soft drinks and electronics companies. But that kind of juxtaposition excited Art Institute director Douglas Druick. “What is astonishing here is the competition between images,” he told me back in August. “It is wonderful to see how these iconic works of art hold their own and rivet attention even in a busy intersection.”
