Street Signs And Traffic Islands As Art?

"It could very well be a mirage: A trick of the glaring morning sun or something misread in the pre-caffeinated early morning haze.

But no. Upon closer inspection, that brown-and-white sign, hanging just beneath the red slash of the "No Left/U-Turn" symbol on a sparsely landscaped traffic island, proclaims exactly what you first thought: "The Islands of LA Nat'l Park."

The territory it demarcates along a busy stretch of Glendale Boulevard as it eases into Echo Park seems, at first, unremarkable: some California native brush; flattened and faded Diet Coke cans; Energizer batteries. Nearby, vibrant goldenrod poppies push up from the dirt. And sure, depending on the time of day, you'll find a few regular "campers" -- a couple of reliably resolute panhandlers: one with a dog, another alone and with his own sign whose message has become garbled, streaked and bloated from rain.

National park? Even park would seem a stretch.

Yet the sign is not a movie ad. Nor part of a clever labeling scheme for city districts. Nor is it a joke. Provocative and whimsical, it's a prompt meant to take the mind down a side road that's often as invisible as the traffic island itself. It's an invitation: " 'Come travel here in this idea,' " says artist and activist Ari Kletzky, who since last fall has been placing signs across greater Los Angeles -- both "Islands of LA" and another, "Shift: Do Art Any Time," that mimics the city's ubiquitous "No Parking/Tow Away" placards but done up in an arresting shade of canary.

Kletzky's aim is as multilayered and unconventional as the city it embroiders, drawing attention to islands of every shape, size and intention. "The signs are a way to start a conversation and an education," says Kletzky, whose project is still in the exploratory stages. "They are a gesture. An appetizer that inspires an appetite. I'm looking to generate discussion to explore use of public space by turning islands into a work of art." "