February 1 - 28, 2013
HIGH LINE BILLBOARD, West 18th Street at 10th Avenue

Presented by Friends of the High Line, High Line Art is pleased to announce that You & Me by acclaimed artist Allen Ruppersberg will be the next installation on HIGH LINE BILLBOARD, located within the Edison ParkFast parking lot next to the High Line at West 18th Street and 10th Avenue. On view from Friday, February 1 through Thursday, February 28, 2013, the artist’s iconic posters marks the eighth installment on HIGH LINE BILLBOARD, which has previously featured works by John Baldessari, Anne Collier, David Shrigley, Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari for Toilet Paper, Elad Lassry, Thomas Bayrle, and Paola Pivi.

An American pioneer of Conceptual Art, Allen Ruppersberg began exhibiting in Los Angeles in the late 1960s, along with fellow artists John Baldessari, Ed Ruscha, and William Leavitt. This was a generation of artists whose practice attempted to bridge the distance between art and life through artistic languages which employed everyday objects such as magazines, commercial ads, postcards, and records. Since the beginning, Ruppersberg’s work displays an affinity for the written word and printed materials, and explores consumer society and mass media in a manner that is both playful and critical.

For High Line Art, Ruppersberg presents You & Me, a collection of colorful posters never before shown in this configuration or scale. Similar posters have been featured in his work since the 1980s, and are typically seen on the streets of Los Angeles, where they promote neighborhood events such as wrestling matches, carnivals, and religious gatherings. Ruppersberg appropriates the distinctive background onto which he lays his peculiar form of spontaneous poetry. Arranged side by side on a grid to cover the entire surface of the 25-by-75-foot billboard, the posters display the many combinations of the words “you” and “me” with verses and absurd linguistic associations that can be read in different orders, allowing for unexpected connections between words and ideas.

“Allen Ruppersberg is a celebrated conceptual artist who plays with words, street signage, and poetry,” says Cecilia Alemani, the Donald R. Mullen Jr. Curator & Director of High Line Art. “For HIGH LINE BILLBOARD, Ruppersberg creates a conversational poem set against the skyline of the city. It’s like an advertisement gone crazy.”

Special thanks for Greene Naftali Gallery.

ABOUT ALLEN RUPPERSBERG
Allen Ruppersberg (b. 1944, Ohio) lives and works in New York City and Santa Monica, California. Recent solo exhibitions include The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago (2012); Greene Naftali Gallery, New York (2010); Camden Arts Center, London (2008); Studio Guenzani, Milan (2009); Allen Ruppersberg: One of Many – Origins and Variants, traveled to IAC Institute d’Art Contemporain, Villeurbanne, France (2007), Centro Andaluz de Arts Contemporáneo, Seville (2006), Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee, Scotland (2006), and Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf (2005); and Artpace, San Antonio (2000). Select recent group exhibitions include Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2011); The Jewish Museum, New York (2011); New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (2011); Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2010 – 2011); Museum of Modern Art, New York (2009); Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC (2009); Tate St. Ives, St. Ives, United Kingdom (2008); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2006); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2004); The Last Picture Show: Artists Using Photography, 1960 – 1982, traveled to Miami Art Center, Miami (2005), Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland (2004), MARCO, Vigo, Spain 92004), UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2004), and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2003 – 2004). Select biennials include La Biennale de Lyon, Lyon, France (2005 and 1997); Whitney Biennial, New York (1991, 1975); and Documenta V, Kassel, Germany (1972).

ABOUT HIGH LINE ART
Presented by Friends of the High Line, High Line Art commissions and produces public art projects on and around the High Line. Founded in 2009, High Line Art presents a wide array of artwork including site-specific commissions, exhibitions, performances, video programs, and a series of billboard interventions. Curated by Cecilia Alemani, the Donald R. Mullen, Jr. Curator & Director of High Line Art, and produced by Friends of the High Line, High Line Art invites artists to think of creative ways to engage with the uniqueness of the architecture, history, and design of the High Line and to foster a productive dialogue with the surrounding neighborhood and urban landscape.

High Line Art is presented by Friends of the High Line and the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. High Line Art is made possible by Donald R. Mullen, Jr., with additional support from the Concordia Foundation and Vital Projects Fund, Inc. High Line Art is supported, in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Space for HIGH LINE BILLBOARD donated by ParkFast.com

ABOUT THE HIGH LINE AND FRIENDS OF THE HIGH LINE
The High Line is an elevated freight rail line transformed into a public park on Manhattan’s West Side. It is owned by the City of New York, and maintained and operated by Friends of the High Line. Founded in 1999 by community residents, Friends of the High Line fought for the High Line’s preservation and transformation at a time when the historic structure was under the threat of demolition. It is now the non-profit conservancy working with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation to make sure the High Line is maintained as an extraordinary public space for all visitors to enjoy. In addition to overseeing maintenance, operations, and public programming for the park, Friends of the High Line works to raise the essential private funds to support more than 90 percent of the park’s annual operating budget, and to advocate for the transformation of the High Line at the rail yards, the third and final section of the historic structure, which runs between West 30th and West 34th Streets.