Richard Ankrom's Freeway Sign.


Composite photo of Richard Ankrom in action. (Photo Credit: Jim Payne)

In 2001, artist Richard Ankrom had so much trouble navigating a particularly confusing stretch of L.A. freeway that he decided to make his own freeway signs and hang 'em up as performance art!

Richard Ankrom, 46, an artist in Los Angeles, Calif., planned his latest masterpiece, a combination paint and performance work, for two years: he altered a major road sign on the Harbor Freeway in downtown. He put up his work in broad daylight, but was unnoticed because he was dressed as a road worker. The audience: 150,000 motorists per day. The payoff: no one noticed, not even state transportation engineers. The plan was to announce the project a year later, but a friend tipped off the press after 9 months. The modification, done to exact Federal Highway Administration specifications, helps motorists navigate a complicated transition ahead. "The experts are saying that Mr. Ankrom did a fantastic job," said a Caltrans spokeswoman. "They thought it was an internal job." The agency plans to leave the modification in place, since it is in fact helpful to motorists. Ankrom says helping out motorists "was the whole point."

Link | Richard Ankrom's website


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The city of LA claimed at the time that they would leave it up until they completed their planned renovation of area signage - and consider at that time whether or not to incorporate the additional sign. That was 6 years ago, and the sign is still up.

Ankrom signed the back of his sign - when it does come down, I hope the city does something cool with it. It would be a shame if they just tossed it.
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i interviewed ankrom on my radio show right after this . you can hear it here : http://mishaco.com/archive.htm . i scooped cnn and everybody else .
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