Street art is about to get a whole new meaning. The Art Everywhere project aims to cover the UK with 15,000 billboards of works from British artists for two weeks this summer.
Brainchild of Richard Reed, the co-founder of smoothie company Innocent Drinks, Art Everywhere is a crowd-funded project. The organization plans to raise £200,000 from the public to support the endevor.
This year we've seen enthusiasm for public art projects, from Nick Cave's "HEARD.NY" to Tracey Emin's and JR's works in Times Square. Combining this momentum with the rise in crowd-funded art projects, especially on Kickstarter, Reed is tapping into current cultural trends.
"Our vision is that this summer we literally want to flood the streets of the UK with the greatest art that this country has ever produced – it has got no agenda beyond that," Reed told The Guardian in early June. "It is about putting wonderful, beautiful things in as many places as possible to be seen by as many people as possible."
Today, Art Everywhere announced the shortlist of 50 paintings that could be on display in August. The works span 673 years of British art history, including favorites like John Singer Sargent and Thomas Gainsborough, as well as contemporary works by Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin. You can view the works and vote for your favorites here.
[via The Guardian]
