Produced for the Sign Show, "Plow Pose" investigated I-70 message themes including lifestyle, athletics, religion, and masculinity. The ambiguous composition—is the man restrained by or bursting out of the space?—invited viewers to think about representations of the human body on other billboards and in advertising generally. Haendel's piece also subtly engaged its agricultural site in presenting a classic yoga position named for its resemblance to traditional Indian and Tibetan farming equipment. To acknowedge this reference—and to have a new experience of the interstate—a group from Yoga Sol of Columbia, Missouri, held a class under the billboard.

For its satellite installtion, "Plow Pose" moved to the grounds of a heavy-machinery depot in Wright City, Missouri. The mostly white sign, perched on a incline, had a glowing, beaconlike visibilty for drivers headed east, toward St. Louis.

About the artist: Karl Haendel's meticulously hand-rendered, photorealistic graphite drawings reproduce images culled from the world of mass media and everyday objects, calling into question art-world conceptions of originality, production, and reproduction. The artist, who also makes films and books, arranges his drawings in salon-style installations to foster powerful reference juxtapositions that often point to and critique American culture. He has exhibited at institutions including the Wexner Center in Columbus, Los Angeles’s Museum of Contemporary Art, the Aspen Art Museum, New York’s Drawing Center, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago. He is represented by Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Mitchell-Innes & Nash in New York, and Wentrup Gallery in Berlin.

video of billboard installation