Following on from the evolution of a (GTA 4) billboard, Sam Roberts from the almost-investigative blog Ghost Signs, which highlights vestigial ads and trace billboards around the world, sent me notice of the following YouTube video produced by Colossal Media showing how they develop and fabricate their painted-brick advertisements.
Colossal’s work makes me ponder the notion of the painted city. The fine art of painting has never really been a medium that moves me, rather it makes me suspicious of its association with aristocratic portraits and bourgeois desires, but of course, there are other applications of paint. From the painted rooftops of Iceland to any of the myriad examples from the book Russian Painted Shop Signs and Avant-Garde Artists, the thought of a building or an entire city painted – collaged signs and textual-graphic overload – makes me be somewhat at ease with the possibilities of paint. And while advertising is the least of my concerns when considering the painted city, the resurgence of these painted signs is still rather exciting. Anyday i would prefer looking at a painted sign to a JCDecaux box-framed poster ad (but I admit it’s difficult to deny the seductiveness of those high-definition screens at JFK airport’s Terminal 9 – this past summer I found myself stuck in that hallway for a good 20 minutes watching that eye candy jostle around!).
Nice post Nick, the painted city is an interesting concept and the current vogue for street art (Banksy et al) adds to this.
There’s more on Colossal Media on my blog:
http://brickads.blogspot.com/search/label/Colossal%20Media
hey Sam,
thanks for the link! I fixed the URI so it works now with one click! Cheers matey!
Check out this time shifted reproduction of the GTA IV ad:
http://brickads.blogspot.com/2008/01/colossal-media-timeshift.html
nice one Sam!
they certainly know how to make a big splash, even making a timelapse movie for the box art!
and now I’m thinking I need to get one of those ladder scaffold rigs in my own studio!