Queensbury, NY Billboard For Sale On eBay

I am excited to announce that I listed my billboard, Queensbury, NY, for sale on eBay. If you are interested in seeing the auction, you can follow it here. Bidding ends February 25, 2015 at 3:00 pm EST.

I first wrote about this project here, but, for a summary, I was inspired to create and pay for the installation to provide a counter-weight to the deluge of demanding messages we all receive everyday. It is my hope that by saying nothing, the billboard would provide mental space for the viewer, allowing time to just "be" without being told what to believe, feel, do.

Queensbury, NY

print on plastic fabric

10'5" x 22'8"

2015

photo credit: Emma Dodge Hanson

I was really lucky to find a great photographer who lives in the Queensbury area, Emma Dodge Hanson, to document the project for me. It is such a blessing to work with a professional who understood my goals and could compliment my artistic vision.

 Queensbury, NY

photo credit: Emma Dodge Hanson

I am also very pleased to have received some good press coverage of the piece -- Pamela Polston of Seven Days wrote an excellent article Vermont Artist Robert Hitzig Makes A Billboard Statement and I was interviewed by Lucas Willard of Northeast Public Radio out of Albany, NY for the story: Vermont Artist Reflects On Wordless Billboard Project.

 Queensbury, NY

photo credit: Emma Dodge Hanson

When I started this project, I thought the billboard would be destroyed at the end of the installation, but to my surprise, I learned after it went up that it is printed on a thin plastic fabric that can be easily shipped and stored. In fact, the billboard weights less than 5 lbs and was shipped to me is a medium sized box. However, because the billboard was cut at places along the edge in order to remove it, and it is not in mint condition, having been displayed outdoors for a month, I photographed it in the Montpelier High School cafeteria so that perspective buyers would be able to see its current condition.

 Queensbury, NY

Montpelier High School cafeteria February 2015

In offering it for sale, I hope to raise enough money to create another and, ultimately, maintain an ongoing self-sustaining series. I'd love to do more of these, it would be fun, and I think it would do some good too! 

Another Way To Say Nothing

I've really enjoyed my bumper sticker project over the last year and a half for a number of reasons -- they are fun to design, they are easy to talk about, people respond to them, and they have a concept that I think is important: saying nothing -- not telling people what to think, do, believe; and giving them something that they can interpret for themselves incongruously placed where they would expect an overt message.

Over the summer I got the idea that I could raise the volume of my silent propaganda by doing the same thing on a billboard. The thought scared me at first (and, actually, it still does) because the significant increase in expense, but when I realized the thought wouldn't go away I became resolved to the the fact that I would do it. As it turns out, I realized the vision pretty quickly, settling on a spot in Queensbury, New York, Route 9 (north facing), installed on November 11 for a four week period.

Queensbury, New York

billboard

10'5" x 22'8"

2014

I like how it came out, and I like the juxtaposition with a liquor store and a fast food restaurant, but I am now very curious how it is received or whether it will be noticed at all. I saw it in person on the November 12. During my visit, I didn't get a sense that anyone had a thought about it -- I didn't see anyone looking at it and the one person I asked hadn't seen it yet. I get the feeling that it is one of those things that you'd have to pass several times before you give it a second thought so, in that way, I'm glad it is in an area that local people would likely drive by to work or shopping on a regular basis.

Queensbury, New York (second view)

When I committed to the space I was under the impression that at the end of the rental period the billboard would be destroyed as part of the process of putting a new one up, but, to my surprise, I found that it is printed on a woven plastic fabric that I can actually keep when it is taken down. So, instead of it being a ephemeral installation, I can actually retrieve and sell the piece. As a result, it is theoretically possible that I could get enough money from a sale to afford another. It would be wonderful if I can make this an ongoing series in different locations around the country. Hence, I've been aggressive sending out press releases with the hope that I can generate enough publicity that the piece will have value when it is taken down.

Queensbury, New York (third view)

Admittedly, there is a crazy element to renting a billboard with no words or identifiable image (though, I believe, all good art is at least a little crazy so this gives me hope that making it is the right thing to do) but since I couldn't ignore the idea, realizing the vision alone is worth the effort and expense. Still, I have hopes, and my desire is that people see it and have a response -- any response. Perhaps it is seen as a crazy, irrelevant, self-serving, esoteric, opaque, and/or just plain confusing, but even a negative response is self-generated thinking from the viewer, so I feel the process is positive even if the emotion created is negative. However, if viewers see it as I intend, as a gift of mental space, as an object that is purposefully not telling people what to do and, thereby, saying "be," I will be even happier.