I’ve always been intrigued by the sheer size of billboards. As a child the larger-than-life scale of NY subway advertisements, and the overwhelming bombardment of Times Square billboards made a lasting impression. The billboards along Texas highways play a strong horizontal counterpoint to the verticality of my earliest visual influences.

My inclination in choosing images for Modern Billings was to go for something quiet in order to stand out in the noise. The images of open journals offer an understated moment for busy travelers. Something for those with sensibilities not often rewarded by billboards. Stacks of open journals at the scale of billboards hold a larger-than-life sized hint at introspection, a paradox.

Modern Billings is a collaboration between the Education Department at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Clear Channel Outdoor, and local artists in the DFW area. Jesse Morgan Barnett and Tiffany Wolf Smith, Assistant Curators of Education, invite artists to use billboards donated by Clear Channel in communities along the periphery of downtown Fort Worth.