IF YOU LIVED HERE… YOU’D BE HOME BY NOW. “PERCHED ABOVE THE UNDEFEATED LOCATION ON LA BREA IN LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA THE UNDEFEATED BILLBOARD PROJECT IS A REFLECTION OF OUR STORE AND THE CULTURE IT REPRESENTS.” LIVING IN LOS ANGELES WE ARE CONSTANTLY REMINDED HOW WE ARE LIVING IN A MAN MADE LANDSCAPE. TERRAFORMING IS A LOS ANGELES PHENOMENON. VARIOUS SPECIES OF PLANT LIFE AND ANIMAL LIFE HAVE BEEN IMPORTED. OUR WATER IS NOT OUR OWN. WITHOUT US, THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT IS A BARREN DESSERT, PRACTICALLY LIFELESS. IN ADDITION TO THE “UNNATURAL” NATURE THAT SURROUNDS US, THE REMAINING SPACE HAS BEEN CLAIMED BY A BARRAGE OF ADVERTISEMENTS AND CHEAP THRILLS. THIS LANDSCAPE BEING SO MALLEABLE, THE CITY HAS NO CONCEPT OF PERMANENCE AND HENCE ITS HISTORY IS AS ILLUSIVE AS ITS PRESENT IS EPHEMERAL. IT’S A CITY WHOSE HISTORY IS TOLD BY STORIES OF THE INHABITANTS WHO HAVE HELPED MOLD IT. MOST OF ITS CHARACTER LIES IN THESE STORIES. “IF YOU LIVED HERE YOU’D BE HOME BY NOW” RECLAIMS AND RETHINKS THAT SPACE. WE CHOOSE TO DECORATE OUR CITY LIKE WE WOULD DECORATE OUR HOME. THROUGH ITS SCULPTURAL APPROACH IT CHANGES ONE’S PERCEPTION OF THE CONVENTIONAL SPACE OF A COMMERCIAL BILLBOARD. BY DOING THIS IT RECLAIMS THE SPACE. IT ALSO DOES THIS BY PRESENTING AN IMAGE THAT IS UN-FAMILIAR TO THE L.A. CULTURAL IDENTITY, MUCH LIKE ITS SETTLERS BROUGHT IN VARIOUS WILDLIFE FROM EXOTIC LANDS. INTENTIONALLY WE ARE PRESENTING AN IMITATION OF A PLASTER CAST DEER HEAD THAT MOCKS THE IDEA OF TAXIDERMY. ALTHOUGH BEAUTIFUL, THERE IS NO PRIZE AND NO GLORY. TAXIDERMY IS A CELEBRATION OF A JOURNEY, OF A HUNT, AND IS AN HONORING OF THE KILL. WITH “IF YOU LIVED HERE, YOU’D BE HOME BY NOW” WE HONOR THE SPIRIT OF LOS ANGELES AND EMBRACE IT’S CONSTANT NOD TO THE FUTURE.
