Hasta La Ideas

The Los Angeles Fund for Public Education and ForYourArt initiative are working with a series of artists to create pieces for Arts Matter, a campaign to support arts education in the city’s Unified School District. Barbara Kruger’s bus wraps and billboards are the first works to be unveiled…

Kruger’s, piece, School Bus, will be applied to a fleet of city buses with two other outdoor works also appearing in Los Angeles. The citywide public art exhibition and fundraising campaign aim to revitalise arts education in the second largest public school system in the US.

“Arts education is critical for helping students develop creativity, critical thinking, and problem solving abilities,” says LA Fund chair, Megan Chernin. “In a district with nearly 80% of our student population living in poverty, in the heart of the world’s creative capital, it is our imperative to ensure our public school students have the resources they need to prepare them for college and their careers.”

Photograph by Waltarrrrr

“The artist’s project for Arts Matter, rendered in Kruger’s signature style, addresses directly and urgently the importance of education, especially in the arts,” say the FYA.

“Kruger’s statement, ‘Art is as heavy as sorrow, as light as a breeze, as bright as an idea…’ emphasises the fluid nature of art. At the same time, [she] stresses that art remains a crucial, indispensible part of a successful educational system. School Bus also references an earlier bus wrap Kruger created for New York City’s Public Art Fund in 1997.”

Photograph by Waltarrrrr

Photograph by Waltarrrrr

Twelve city buses and nearly 85 artwork billboards, bus shelters, wallpostings, mall media, and bulletins will provide Arts Matter with exhibition space. The public art project will continue in the months of January, March, and July 2013.

More on Art Matters at lafund.org/#artsmatter.

Creative Producer: Bettina Korek. Producer: Karen Constine. Production, Artwork: Chip Leavitt / Lumiere Graphic Design. Campaign: Julia Luke. Thanks: Zenithmedia, Stacy Bach, CBS Outdoor, Emi Fontana, Alex Israel, Patricia Kennedy, Alex Miller, Claire de Dobay Rifelj, Sarah Williams and METRO