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Park McArthur
Softly, effectively, 2017

Artwork Info

Artwork title
Softly, effectively
Artist name
Park McArthur
Date created
2017
Medium
aluminum
Dimensions
78 × 128 × 1 1/2 in. (198.1 × 325.1 × 3.8 cm)
Date acquired
2017
Credit
Collection SFMOMA
Accessions Committee Fund purchase
Copyright
© Park McArthur
Permanent URL
https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/2017.235.A-C
Artwork status
On view on floor 5 as part of Afterimages: Echoes of the 1960s in the Fisher and SFMOMA Collections

Audio Stories

Unexpected poetry in traffic signs

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transcripts

PARK MCARTHUR:

One of the other pieces that you’ll notice in the show is titled, Softly, yet Effectively, and that is language the manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices uses to describe how traffic signs should speak to drivers. At least one and sometimes two signs are facing the wall itself. And so, you see the backside of the signs. They don’t have any text on them. 

So, I think there’s a familiarity to them, as many people have driven on highways or experienced that kind of travel. And so, I was thinking about the use of those words and the inversion of them. 

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