The Art of the Billboard

Billboards have been around a long time, according to Wikipedia the first “real” posters were created in 1794 with the invention of the lithograph. Traditionally billboards were considered a means to sell a particular product or advertise a service. Now we see billboards being used more creatively with 3D components, light up features, and changing messages. The modern billboard is also used to advertise a wider variety of messages. While some may still consider billboards strictly a way to advertise, the “products” can now be opinions on any number of subjects including politics and religion.

When most people think of religious billboards their mind turns to something fairly controversial they may have seen with their own eyes. Billboards are common and living in the Midwest means that most of us have seen religious billboards on a more regular basis than we have been exposed to great works of art. Some people claim it is the size of the billboard that makes the message stand out and others see the seemingly public space that the billboard occupies as the problem. Because of varying locations of where billboards are placed free speech is also brought in to question. Most religious billboards that I have seen deal with issues of abortion in favor of both sides, but sometimes these ads bring humor in to play, like the God speaks billboards with slogans like, “don’t make me come down there,” or “If you must curse use your own name”. Other ad campaigns combine a product with religion such as the portrayal of Jesus drinking a beer between the words “King of Jews/King of Beers”.

However, the billboard I chose to focus on seems much less controversial, at least it did at first glance. The billboard portrays Jesus’ head in a field of wheat as his hand holds up a fistful of the same wheat. Jesus is portrayed as white with a brown beard and blue eyes. The billboard was built in 2009 in Colby, Kansas along interstate 70. Tuffy Taylor and Linda Kay Taylor were the couple behind this particular billboard although they were not the ones who created the image. Instead they hired an artist from a nearby shopping center, Phyllis Shanks, “who paints on a variety of mediums, including rocks,” (Corn). Although Phyllis has her own website advertising her other work, mainly paperweights, she does not mention this particular piece of artwork at all. I don’t know if this means that the website was outdated or that she did not care to comment since the Taylors have tried to stay fairly anonymous as well.

The Taylor’s say they were influenced by similar billboards but they wanted this particular piece to make people think for themselves. They purposefully chose not to include their names or any message to accompany the picture of Jesus hoping that, “People could make up their own mind,” said Tuffy Taylor. However, the art itself was important enough to convince the Taylors to finance the billboard almost entirely themselves. They admit to having lots of outside help with putting their message in to action, but if they had not they estimate the billboard would have cost around 34,000 dollars.

A few bloggers have described this image of Jesus as creepy because they describe Jesus as disembodied and relate the picture to agricultural horror films. That was not my opinion. Initially I found the billboard refreshing. It was nice to see a religious image on a billboard that did not preach something hateful or portray some sort of trashy humor. Billboards are often used as gimmicks, but that wasn’t what I saw. Although the wheat is not discussed in any interview I could find with the Taylor’s it was essential to how I first thought about the billboard. It seemed that this billboard was making a connection between the modern day hardships of the farmer and Jesus’ possible agricultural background.

It seemed to be a picture that quite clearly showed Jesus sharing his bounty, but that is the risk you take when you don’t add an explanation to your art. In fact some readers added their own slogans to the billboard, “Fresh, like Jesus, our bread was risen this morning,” or "welcome to Kansas, home of the crazies" and "Praise White Jesus! Praise Wheat Jesus!” In general most of the 99 comments posted to this article found the billboard offensive or ridiculous in ways that I couldn’t see. I agree that portraying a white Jesus is typical, but it doesn’t really strike me as a surprise given the context of the billboard.

One comment from a woman who identified as Catholic thought the billboard was offensive because it “treated Jesus as a joke”. At first I found this comment extremely unjustified, but maybe the means were more offensive to her than the actual image. Billboards could be seen as a cheap or frivolous way to portray any type of spiritual message.

All things considered I found this image to be interesting if not completely original because of how it communicated to its audience. I might find a giant head of Jesus intimidating in some cases but against a real blue sky surrounded by nature seems like Jesus is remembered by this couple as a giant peaceful farmer and I sort of like that image.

Works Cited
Corn, Mike. "Colby Couple raises billboard of Jesus on I-70." L.J.World. 2 August 2009. Web. 18 April 2010.

Additional links
http://www2.ljworld.com/photos/2009/aug/02/175105/
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2009/aug/02/colby-couple-raise-billboard-jesus-i-70/
http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=religious+billboards&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&start=0