The "Brrr!" Billboard
Excerpt:
A billboard for a Minneapolis museum has been replaced after someone spray-painted clothing and the word "Brrr!" in red over its depiction of nudity from a 16th-century Venus painting.
The advertisement is for the Minneapolis Institute of Arts' exhibition of works by the Italian master Titian. The museum chose to feature the famous "Venus Rising from the Sea" painting on the billboard because "it's very typical of paintings in the show," said MIA spokeswoman Anne-Marie Wagener.
The graffiti was discovered on a billboard in Long Lake, a western suburb, last week. None of the other Minneapolis area billboards advertising the show have been damaged. The one that was vandalized has been restored to its previous condition, despite objections from museum officials.
"We said 'We think it's funny, just leave it, don't bother replacing it,'" Wagener said Thursday.
But she said Clear Channel Outdoor, the company that owns the billboard, has a policy that ads with graffiti must be taken down so as not to encourage vandalism.
The billboards are slated to come down in mid-March.
Comment: An unaltered one is on Hwy 169 in Plymouth (10th Avenue). Personally I was not offended and did not even notice it until it hit the news - too busy driving I guess. For a full view of Venus Rising from the Sea
That is hilarious.
ReplyDeleteThere is one on 55 and one on 169.
I liked the bit about how the museum doesn't claim to be creative enough to do some of these things....OK, now they're working at an art museum exactly why, then? After all, the understanding of this kind of thing really ought to be part of their lives....
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