Maui artist Brad Forsythe was selected to exhibit a work of art in The Billboard Creative 2016-17 juried exhibition in Los Angeles. Forsythe was one of only 45 artists selected for the show from more than 1,000 entries.
The Billboard Creative began in 2012 as an experiment with a single billboard. In April 2015, TBC placed 15 contemporary artists’ works on billboards in Los Angeles. Through that effort, The Billboard Creative met Mona Kuhn who signed on as curator with a vision to help the young organization expand in scale and depth of talent.
Beginning early last month, TBC exhibits art on some of the busiest intersections in Los Angeles. These open air galleries feature renowned celebrated artists as well as a mix of established and emerging artists from eight countries.
“The LA culture is so connected to their automobiles; and LA has become a great city for art,” Forsythe said. “The idea of using billboards as a public display platform for an art exhibition is such a brilliant idea. To represent Hawaii and have one of my paintings reproduced on a large scale on Wilshire Blvd is such a thrill.”
Through this unusual public forum, TBC makes art as accessible to Angelenos as the numerous billboards that they view every day. “The injection of artistic speech into the urban environment offers an occasion for commuters to pause and contemplate,” said show curator Kuhn. “We hope to facilitate a cultural exchange, connecting artists with large audiences and bringing art to many people who might not otherwise have the opportunity to see it.”
Forsythe has spent a lifetime working in the creative arts field and has been honored with numerous local, regional and national industry awards for creative excellence. Through a variety of collaborations, his art has appeared on products ranging from Tuscan made scarves to custom snowboards and skis. In 2014, he began collaborating with legendary surfboard shaper and global brand Jimmy Lewis creating original art used for surface graphics on a new pro level SUP surfboard model. Most recently he teamed up with a retail apparel chain to develop an exclusive line of beachwear.
Forsythe, who was recently honored with recognition from the International Design Awards competition, also creates non-traditional lens-based art merging his paintings with abstract digital images. His work has been selected for numerous exhibitions in Hawaii and throughout North America and appears in several international corporate and private collections.
Kuhn is an internationally acclaimed artist best known for her large-scale dream-like images of the human form. Kuhn’s work has been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world including The J. Paul Getty Museum, the Royal Academy of Art in London and Le Louvre in France.
The works for TBC exhibition were selected through a curated, blind-submission process.
Photo courtesy Laura Forsythe
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