• CraigslistMirrors
    Eric Oglander, from Craigslist Mirrors series, 2016
    On main billboard, in Hatton, Missouri, May-July 2016 (click arrows for more images)
  • Craigslist Mirrors Billboard installation image
    Craigslist Mirrors, main billboard
    Site view with rotary tiller, on property of family farm (click arrows for more images)
  • Craigslist Satellite Installation

    Craigslist Mirrors, 2016 (click arrows for more images)
    On satellite billboard in Warrenton, Missouri, near I-70 exit #188, May-July 2016

  • Craigslist Mirrors Billboard installation image

    Donation box located directly behind the Craigslist Mirrors sign. (click arrows for more images)
  • Craigslist Mirrors image thrift store

    The one remaining shop in the Warrenton Outlet Mall. (click arrows for more images)
  • Craigslist Mirrors jean sign

    One of the few remaining signs over the mall's empty storefronts. (click arrows for more images)
  • Craigslist Mirrors parking lot

    Warrenton Outlet Mall parking lot. (click arrows for more images)

For his ongoing found-photography project, Craigslist Mirrors, Oglandler searches the classified-ad website for what he describes as "compelling photos of mirrors for sale." In collaboration with the artist, the I-70 Sign Show selected one of his archive’s many images of car mirrors and cars reflected in mirrors, then cropped and enlarged it to fit the 14-by-48-foot billboard. On the main sign in March–April, the Craigslist Mirrors billboard spoke to the issues of desire and identity embedded in the overall project, alongside the inevitable on-the-road themes of driving and car culture specific to the interstate site. In its second, satellite location, however, the image offers a more pointed and ironic message about digital culture, commerce, and reuse. After filling an otherwise empty billboard, the Craigslist Mirrors photograph hovers next to a failed and nearly abandoned outlet mall. Once geared toward bargain hunters, the mall has most likely been made obsolete, in part, by the convenience and sheer product volume of Web-based second-hand shopping and auction sites—for example, craigslist. The two cars pictured in Oglander’s billboard seem to emphasize the emptiness of the mall’s parking lot in the distance. It seems fitting, somehow, that the lone remaining vendor in the mall is a thrift store.

Video of billboard installation

Originally from Nashville, Oglander is a Brooklyn-based artist working in sculpture and photography. Craigslist Mirrors is the subject of a new book, “Mirrors,” from TWB Books. You can find more information on his project website and on Instagram @craigslist_mirrors and @oglander.
Copyright © 2017 — I-70 Sign Show
All artist images, copyright © the respective artists

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