First of Wexner Center’s Wegman Wallscapes Set to Make Downtown Debut

WHAT: Press conference to unveil the first of several wallscapes promoting the Wexner Center's highly anticipated exhibition William Wegman: Funney/Strange (opening September 20).

WHO: Fred Ransier, Chair, Experience Columbus board of trustees Paula Brooks, Franklin County Commissioner Sherri Geldin, Director, Wexner Center for the Arts

WHEN: Wednesday, September 5 at 10:30 a.m.

WHERE: Northwest corner of State Street and South Third Street downtown

(across from Hyatt on Capitol Square).

FURTHER INFO: This marks the first partnership between the Wexner Center and Orange Barrel Media; Orange Barrel's largest single wallscape campaign to date (with four wallscapes downtown and one on Mershon Auditorium); and the kickoff to the exhibition, which is expected to be a major event and tourist attraction across for the city, county, state, and region. The wallscape that will be unveiled September 5 on the Hyatt on Capitol Square (on S. Third Street & State Street, across from the Statehouse) is the largest single wallscape Orange Barrel has produced (the company works on wallscapes in Columbus, Cleveland, and Washington D.C.). Designers printed it on twelve 14-foot sections of vinyl and then sewed those pieces together for the final product. Visible to airplanes heading into Port Columbus International Airport, the wallscape will take approximately 65 man hours to install. Additional wallscapes will be installed in the subsequent days at South Third Street and Long Street (on the Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease building); on the building at South Fourth and Main streets, visible heading north on Fourth; on the Carlile Building near the Arena District, visible on High Street heading north from downtown into the Short North; and on the Wexner Center’s Mershon Auditorium near 15th Avenue and High Street at The Ohio State University (two different images, facing High Street and heading south on High the north side of the building). Additional wallscapes may be announced.

The Wexner Center for the Arts will bring the critically acclaimed exhibition William Wegman: Funney/Strange to Columbus for its first and only Midwest stop from September 20 through December 30. This nationally touring show, a retrospective of Wegman’s wryly funny work, showcases his photography, painting, drawing, collage, and video from the 1960s to the present, including his famous photographs of weimaraner dogs in fanciful or surreal poses. The show—free to the public and on view in all Wexner Center galleries—includes more than 200 artworks.