About The Art
I’ve documented mostly half-painted billboards beginning in 1975 and ending in 1990 when “vinyl wraps” began to replace them. Now pixels have mostly replaced vinyl.
Some of these billboards speak to magnificence and pride directly; others provide clues about our vices, pleasures, and aspirations, like Newport Cigarettes, Black Velvet Scotch, USAIR Non-stops to Miami, and Walsh for State Supreme Court. My photographs document the visual impact of billboards, but also reveal their curious potential to be interpreted and occasionally misinterpreted. I’m attracted to the monumental scale of the billboard image, most often created from a painter’s cartoon that began as a photograph, and to the painterly, mysterious, and often ironic sense of the half-rendered image. Throughout all this I’ve been amazed at the sign painters’ craft – they work day-in and day-out in all weather, suspended on a scaffold, mostly isolated, and literally too close to see the big picture.
Mark Perrott
CATEGORIES: Exhibition
DATE: November 6, 2022 - January 22, 2023
LOCATION: N/A
RECEPTION: November 6, 2022 – 3 P.M.
89th National Midyear Exhibition at the Butler
The 89th National Midyear Exhibition presents works by contemporary artists 18 years and older who reside within the United States or its territories. Two-dimensional works in all media, including digital work and photography, are in the exhibition. This year’s juror is Dr. Louis Zona, Director Emeritus of The Butler Institute of American Art.
Exhibit Details and Special Events:
Entries due by April 10, 2026
Exhibition Dates: July 12 – August 20, 2026
Reception July 12, 2026, with an Awards Presentation at 2pm
Located in MacIntosh & Finnegan-Hynes Galleries