A Spanish artist’s public art project blurs the lines between art and advertising

By Angie Hargot

Artist Chus Garcia-Fraile’s Post-It project is a reminder of a Miami advertising dilemma. Photo by Richard M. Brooks

It was just a few weeks ago that attorney Lucia Dougherty stood before the Miami City Commission and took a shot at South Florida history.  

She argued that outdoor advertising giant Fuel Outdoor’s embattled building-sized advertisements constitute art, and suggested that vodka, Jaguar and iPod ads should enjoy the same rights as those that have made history, such as the billboard of a sunburned, partially exposed Coppertone girl that eluded more than one wrecking ball before it was eventually relocated to a downtown Miami building.

Anyone who spent time in South Florida after 1960 knows her well, and few would argue her pale behind isn’t a part of local history.

The long, tan legs of the Skyy Vodka gals, however, may be a different story.

The blurring lines between murals, art and commercialism inspired one Spanish artist to create some works of his own.

While the city of Miami has floundered in the battle between advertising and art, the city of Miami Beach funded part of an art project that symbolizes the conflict.

The artwork’s concept was simple: nine multicolored, mural-sized Post-Its with random notes scribbled in English and Spanish. The city posted them all along Lincoln Road in November to coincide with Sleepless Night. It plans to remove them this week.

One displays a grocery list.

“Google: Botox, Lipo, Implants,” reads another.

Yet another, posted above a Payless Shoe Store, simply reads, “Stay Awake.”

Were they art? Were they advertisements for Post-It notes? Perhaps they were both.

“This project is a reflection on the consumer-driven society in Western culture and our most common habits, the boundaries between what’s public and private, and the invasion of privacy to which people are subjected by various media,” Post-It artist Chus Garcia-Fraile said. “The idea is to re-create the typical adhesive notes that we all use as reminders on a daily basis. They’re notes of concern that either reduce or increase certain habits at the same time that we commit these to memory, leading to a change in the daily patterns that imprison us. These are notes that, if blown up and exhibited to the public, could pass for ads for daily activities, giving them another context.”

According to Garcia-Fraile, the project, originally exhibited in Madrid, was selected from 595 proposals made during Madrid Abierto 2006, an international public arts program that coincides with the International Contemporary Art Fair (ARCO).

First, Garcia-Fraile made a list of messages that he might jot down on Post-Its. Then he asked friends to pick out the ones they thought most common.

The messages were chosen from “little slices of daily life: going to the gym, dieting, choosing a product from a shopping list, reducing smoking, etc.,” Garcia-Fraile said. “In this new context, they don’t reflect our own desires as much as they do the action of continuous seduction through advertising.”

While the 3M Corporation funded the project in Madrid, the Miami Beach Art in Public Places Committee curated the local Post-It project, which was co-sponsored by the Arts Connection organization and AAA Flag and Banner, for Sleepless Night.

“It’s an incredible act of generosity when a city can fund public art projects,” said Jeremy Chestler, executive director of the Art Center/South Florida on Lincoln Road, the building on which two of the Post-Its are displayed, and chair of the city’s Art in Public Places Committee. “We thought it was a great project with a lot of merit. It’s important because of the accessibility. This is not a commercial enterprise. It’s accessible to the public — they don’t even have to go into a gallery to see it.”

The value of Garcia-Fraile’s work is that it “stimulates discussion about commercialism,” he said. “Advertising can be artful and creative. In murals or mosaics, there’s a clear distinction that they’re not trying to sell products, but a lot of nonprofits have the conflict of ‘where is the money going to come from’ — the money has to come from somewhere. Yes, [the Post-It] is a recognizable image, but that works to the advantage of the artist. Post-Its are a part of culture.”

And the artist couldn’t have been happier with the exhibit’s busy Lincoln Road location. “The visibility and the purpose of the project has a wider reach to audiences,” Garcia-Fraile said. “Even when subjected to strategic publicity campaigns, we’re free, especially to choose from different products on the market. Often we see how a car, a cologne, etc., offers us more confidence, security or social success. They’re symbols that carry social class or distinction. If today a man on the street can feel more secure with a nice suit than with a clean religious conscience, it’s because of the importance of the ideology established by commercials. Our social and cultural system has accepted the idea of publicity — and it’s definitely not a neutral idea. The needs and wants of people, except for the most basic, are being created in every historic moment, and they are responses to the interests of manufacturers.”

In Miami, however, many advertisers, activists and residents are still entrenched in legal issues and negotiations with the city about such “mural” advertisements. Two competing ordinances currently face the commission: one that benefits residents and one that benefits advertisers. After postponing a series of drafts, discussions and votes on the proposed “mural” ordinances for three years, the commission plans to hear the item on March 13.

“As far as whether money is paid for putting them up on private property, I think it’s a good thing,” Garcia-Fraile said. “It’s a good form of compensation as long as the laws allow it and all property owners and neighborhood residents are in agreement.

“As for the future of advertising in the visual landscape,” he added, “each day it seems to take over more physical space and more space in our minds.”

Comments? E-mail angie@miamisunpost.com