Artist welcomes all reactions to ‘Word on the Street’ signs in Tiburon

Los Angeles-based artist Scott Froschauer has brought his street-sign art exhibit ‘The Word on the Street’ to Tiburon for a six-month run. (Francisco Martinez / The Ark)

Scott Froschauer says the world is filled with “inherently alienating” advertising.

Whether people are being told to drink beer to have more fun or buy deodorant to smell better, he says, the underlying message is the same: “Because of these problems with you, you should get our product, and our product will solve these problems that you have.”

The Los Angeles-based artist says he’s trying to counteract that with a different kind of attention-grabbing medium: street signs.

Froschauer has installed 15 street signs bearing positive messages from downtown to Blackie’s Pasture and along the Old Rail Trail as part of his “The Word on the Street” exhibit. The signs started going up June 1 and will stay in place until early December. A dedication ceremony and meet-the-artist event is set for 12:30-2:30 p.m. June 6 at Shoreline Park near the Tiburon ferry landing.

“Rather than using it to tell you that you’re lacking something and you should buy a product, I’m going to use that attention to tell you that you’re actually fine, and you don’t need a product,” Froschauer says.

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