Walking through Chelsea, I happened upon this cool hipster billboard (how could I miss it – it’s gigantic). Luckily or not, I’m old enough to recognize the old (shall we say retro?) Chrysler logo that makes up the image of a days-gone-by Chrysler sedan.
[crappy pic courtesy of my iPhone 3GS – talk about retro…]
Even though this image is totally cool in a shaga-delic sort of way, why would Chrysler advertise the past? Because this billboard is not a billboard: it’s billboard art on The High Line, “a public park built on an historic freight rail line elevated above the streets on Manhattan’s West Side.” This particular art installation is called “American Dream, 1970,” created by German artist Thomas Bayrle, who “investigates the power of images in the context of advertising and mass iconography.” His imagery was powerful enough to stop me in my tracks in a city where cowboys run naked and nothing seems weird, so I’d say it is pretty effective.
Bayrle’s American Dream will be visible at the Edison ParkFast on West 18th St at 10th Avenue through October 31, 2012. To see what public art High Line Billboard currently has on display, click here.
