Forests in our Urban Air!
“The job of an artist is to show the issue, and the politician’s job is to correct it.” These were the wise words I would hear daily from my professor Peter Sellars when I was a young impressionable student at UCLA. Sellars is considered a genius and if his words are true, than Stephen Glassman is doing both the job of showing the problem and solving it. His revolutionary idea of creating ‘green’ billboards to bring some life to urban environments is getting lots of attention. Here is an interview with Stephen and the link to the kickstarter campaign. On that site you can also find out about a benefit concert coming up in January produced by Adrian Grenier’s company Shft.com featuring the lead guitarist from Wilco Nels Cline. I for one would love to see these live trees on our sky line rather than billboards for horror films!
1) What inspired this project?
As a child I was deaf, and unable to hear. I didn’t learn to speak until I was nearly 5 years old. During this time I drew a lot, and felt as if I somehow succeeded in communicating anywayI absorbed the sensory information of my environment, but I was unable to question “why” things were.I think in the optimism of youth and with my tendency to “speak” through my art, I found beauty in unlikely places.I’ve set out in my work to investigate scale and social impact. This led to a lot of commissions for public buildings and spaces, which makes for big works. But ultimately these commissions began to feel like simply bigger boxes. I was looking for a breakthrough.In LA, we spend way too much time in cars. I find that when I’m stuck in traffic, my eye naturally travels to the horizon and up. I wanted to draw with bamboo in that area above the horizon. The idea of making a green billboard with growing bamboo, and creating a kind of “crack” in the skyline came to me. Leonard Cohen says that there’s “a crack in everything, that’s where the light gets in”. Part of my impulse is to create a crack the skyline with something alive, beautiful, and meaningful.
2) Do you see this as the way of the future?
A commercial billboard needs a viewer – it’s like a false God. It needs a worshipper. Unlike say a tree, that creates value in the world whether you’re there or not. When you strip away the 2 dimensional facade of the billboard, it becomes able to interact in a 3 dimensional world. It opens up the possibility of a whole new layer of infrastructure that can be there to serve, not sell. It’s intriguing to consider billboards as openings and portals, rather than boards across your face.
The UrbanAir Billboard measures air quality inside it’s own garden and compares it to say 100′ away. It will have the ability to communicate this imformation to the internet, smartphones, and to other billboards. Our goal is to work with the Clinton Foundation C40 Climate initiative. This is a program where 40 of the largest cities around the globe have committed to measurably reduce their carbon footprint by the year 2020. We would love to see an Urban Air installation in each of these 40 cities – both as a symbol of, and an instrument for achieving the global goal.
3) How challenging or easy is it being an artist in Los Angeles?
LA is so spacious and vibrant, it can be very easy to get distracted by its dreams, possibilities, and lifestyles…. or lost in the isolation of your work. However, I’ve always felt that LA was a crucible of the modern American city – the best and worst. The creation of an artwork is about picking a problem. Then you simply work it out. The quality of the art is only as good as the quality of the problem. I was always attracted to the problems – and the solutions – that LA offers.
4) Where is your dream vacation?
Bali keeps popping up. I built a bridge there that changed my life … literally
5) What book is on your night stand?
I’m in production… my i-phone is next to my bed! That said, my source of peace, escape, insight and inspiration these days is a cliff about 10 minutes from my studio. I can sit there and gaze out over the state park … the silence is delicious
6) Does green life on a billboard help clean up our urban sky line and air?
It generates a measurable result. But Urban Air is an Artwork first and foremost. I’m not out to manufacture the solution, just inspire it.
