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40 x 25"
PITTSBURGH—A roadside billboard, located on Brownshill Road, Squirell Hill, features the artwork of local artist Rachel Renee Stewart for the enjoyment of city drivers. Installed on April 5, 2007, this in-your-face public artwork was launched from 'Making Mass Media', a special art class offered by Visiting Assistant Professor Christopher Sperandio as part of the drawing/painting/printmaking curriculum at Carnegie Mellon University.
The billboard features a photo taken from the point of view of a driver’s windshield, speeding inbound on "the death strech" of Route 28. It is a recognizable scene to Pittsburgh’s drivers, yet Stewart’s image centers on a sloppy surprise. “Splat!” In the middle of the windshield, a beautiful butterfly meets its messy end. “Even before I could tell what exactly what the picture was, I was intrigued by it,” said John Pena, an Art Graduate Student at CMU.
The initial goal of the piece was to create a striking impact on the viewer, who would likely be traveling by at a high speed. Stewart created this effect by mixing media in an innovative way to show the viewer the energy in a random, yet commonplace event. The butterfly’s wings are constructed from a detailed digital photo collaged onto to the photo of the windshield. Its smashed body and legs are made of a gooey blob of paint, which the artist flung at the surface of the photo-collage. Stewart’s imagery comes from her an interest in opposites colliding, in this case, with the implications of driving a car:
- being inside vs. being outdoors
- speeding vs. sitting still
- industrialization vs. the environment
- progress vs. destruction
Special thanks to Jeremy Gibson for the use of his photo of Pittsburgh.
No butterflies were harmed in the making of this art.