Six Wallscapes Now Up Around Town in Wexner Center-Orange Barrel Partnership

Campaign for art exhibition is largest ever for Orange Barrel

Columbus, OH—In an unprecedented cultural marketing campaign and a unique partnership, the Wexner Center for the Arts and Orange Barrel Media (which produces large-scale outdoor wallscapes) have unveiled six wallscapes throughout downtown Columbus and at The Ohio State University. The wallscapes promote the Wexner Center exhibition William Wegman: Funney/Strange.

This marks the first partnership between the Wexner Center (wexarts.org) and Orange Barrel Media (orangebarrelmedia.com). It’s also Orange Barrel's largest single wallscape campaign to date, and the largest such campaign for an arts organization in the region. The campaign also includes the single largest wallscape ever produced by Orange Barrel (168 feet tall and 30 feet wide, on Hyatt on Capitol Square).

Notes Wexner Center Director Sherri Geldin, “The Wexner Center is known for being ahead of the curve when it comes to our programming; it makes sense that thinking should also apply to our marketing strategies. In addition to enhancing the downtown and Short North skyscape, we’re certain that this bold campaign is attracting new audiences into the Wexner Center and sparking their interest in contemporary art.”

Peter Scantland, president of Orange Barrel Media, which also works on wallscapes in Cleveland, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere, says, “This is by far the largest campaign we’ve carried out—and that it’s for an arts institution makes it all that much more unusual. Orange Barrel looks to make the city more lively with humorous, attractive visual elements throughout downtown. Likewise, the Wexner Center is one of the city’s cultural treasures and a catalyst for creativity and innovation. It seemed like a natural match for us.”

And William Wegman, who was in town for the exhibition opening events in September, remarked, "I was overjoyed to see so many of my images floating through the city of Columbus. It was like a dream. Can we do this every year?"

Visible to airplanes heading into and out of Port Columbus International Airport, the downtown wallscapes are located on the Hyatt on Capitol Square hotel at State and Third streets; at South Third Street and Long Street (on the Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease building); at South Fourth and Main streets, visible heading north on Fourth; and on the building at Spring and High Streets downtown. A wallscape is also on view near the Arena District on the Carlile Building, 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).

Due in part to the prominence of the wallscapes, the galleries have been brimming with activity on the weekends especially. Comments such as this one are coming in verbally or through the center’s electronic kiosk in the lobby: “I saw the giant poster on a building downtown for advertisement and brought my 77-year-old mother today. We have been here for 4 hours and are 'dog-tired' but it was a marvelous time. Never knew an art exhibit could be so much fun.”

The wexarts.org web site traffic for September and October has been the highest ever. The critically acclaimed exhibition William Wegman: Funney/Strange is on view at the Wexner Center 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.