Passing over the border between the United States and Canada near Vancouver, travelers take in this unexpected sight: an odd metal billboard advertising nothing but air. Clean air. ‘Non-Sign II‘ by Lead Pencil Studio was commissioned by the U.S. government to draw attention not to some product or service, but to the landscape.
From afar, it looks like it could be a flock of black birds, or particles of matter coming together to form the edges of a rectangle. The metal sculpture measures 30 feet high and 50 feet wide.
What is framed in that open rectangle that would normally contain an appeal to your consumerist impulses is simply sky.
Lead Pencil Studio consists of Seattle duo Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo, whose respective backgrounds in art and architecture meet somewhere in the middle in each of their works. Says Mihalyo, “Why shouldn’t there be a whole realm of architecture that’s nonfunctional…and really just meant for experiencing space for its own sake with no practical purpose whatsoever?”
