ALEX KATZ, YOKO ONO AND SHIRIN NESHAT: ART ADDS 1
Press Release
Throughout the month of January 2010, 500 taxi tops will be donated by Show Media to Art Production Fund for a city wide, one month, public art intervention. The 2010 series features work by three major figures in contemporary art: Alex Katz, Yoko Ono and Shirin Neshat. The project will transform a platform normally used for commerce into one for culture, uniting separate entities into one roving exhibit.
Each artist will have approximately 160 cabs for their work and each will display images on the two sides of the rooftop advertising cones. At any given time, the dynamics of the project will be different; an exhibit constantly in flux, transforming with traffic patterns throughout the day. In a city where images call out from everywhere, this is an opportunity to see and connect to the message and magic of art.
The ART ADDS taxis will be seen by over 5 million New Yorkers each day of the campaign, and on constant display 24/7, they will reach people of all ages, races, and backgrounds.
Alex Katz is both a quintessential New Yorker and one of the most important modern painters, revolutionizing portraiture with his cool style of abstract realism. For this project he will install images of two of his most recent paintings for their first public viewing, in a rare opportunity to see his work in the context of the city that so inspires him.
Yoko Ono is an international icon, transforming art, music and culture with her work. She will exhibit two graphics of her classic WAR IS OVER! campaign - one in English and one in sign language - to be seen on city streets.
Shirin Neshat is a world -renowned artist, addressing the social, cultural and religious codes of her Muslim upbringing. On one side of the cab will be "Offered Eyes", an image of a woman’s eye decorated with a Persian poem, and on the other side two hands in a handshake, adorned with decorative calligraphy, from the “Women of Allah” series.
Art Production Fund is a non-profit organization dedicated to facilitating ambitious projects by contemporary artists, reaching new audiences and expanding public participation and understanding through contemporary art. Past projects include: PLAN B, Rudolf Stingel, Summer 2004, Grand Central’s Vanderbilt Hall and The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Prada Marfa, Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset, permanent installation, Marfa, TX; Greeting Card, Aaron Young, The Drill Hall at the Park Avenue Armory, September 2007; Electric Fountain, Tim Noble & Sue Webster, Rockefeller Plaza, Spring 2008; Whitney Biennale, presented by APF and the Park Avenue Armory, March 2008; Prospect 1. New Orleans, Kalup Linzy, Sweet Lorraine’s Jazz Club, New Orleans, LA, November 2008; Scribble, Karl Haendel, 411 Broadway, NYC, May 2009.
Show Media is the fastest growing out-of-home media company in the United States and was recently named by Inc. magazine as one of the Inc. 500 fastest growing independent companies of 2009. Show Media was co-founded in 2006 by entrepreneurs Laurence Hallier, and John Amato with a goal to help brands connect with consumers in unique and different ways. Show Media is known as an innovator in the industry and helps many of the country’s best known brands break through the clutter with their advertising including Ray-Ban, Louis Vuitton and Microsoft’s Bing.com. Headquartered in Las Vegas, Show Media has operations in New York, NY and Los Angeles, CA.
Press
