Ambika Kumar
Governing magazine
To prove that art has a place in modern society – or at least on its roads – artist Richard Ankrom recently added a sign to a Los Angeles highway, warning motorists on the northbound Harbor Freeway that they must be in the left lane to travel north on Interstate 5.

Nobody in the highway department had asked for such a sign. But Ankrom did such a good job that officials failed to notice it for nine months; now that they have, they plan to leave it in place.

The 46-year-old, who paints signs for a living, calls the project “guerilla public service” and says it makes a statement about art’s function within a bureaucracy. “It wasn’t a vigilante thing,” he explains. “This particular situation was easy to reach and it needed some work.”

Ankrom began researching the project two years ago, seeking out the sign’s specifications and colors and traveling as far as Tacoma, Wash., to buy 1950s-style button reflectors. The work culminated in august 2001, when friends video-taped Ankrom installing the interstate shield and accompanying “north” sign as motorists sped along below.

Although he had planned to unveil the tape at an art gallery this month, the story broke after a local newspaper found the footage on-line. Subsequent media reports alerted officials at the state Department of Transportation, who had assumed the sign was an internal job.

“People usually leave it up to the professionals,” says Caltrans spokesperson Deborah Harris, adding that although ankrom’s actions were illegal, the department did not press charges. She admits the artist had “a good idea” and says Caltrans will keep the change as it upgrades all of its freeway signs.

As hype from this project dies down, Ankrom has plans for another. “It’s not quite as high-profile,” he says. “It works on the same level, although it might be legal and it might not.”