Art

As San Diego Museum of Art director Steven Brezzo was flying into Tampa, Fla., last year for the opening of the Dr. Seuss show, he spotted a billboard-sized reproduction of an Impressionist painting, captioned with a plug for the local art museum. The marketing idea was new to him, but not to the Patrick Media Group, which has worked with museums in eight cities on similar projects.

Now the SDMA and Patrick have teamed up to produce a colossal version of Peter Hurd’s “Eve of St. John,” the most popular painting in the museum’s permanent collection. Patrick artist Cooper Cooata executed the 14-foot-high billboard painting depicting a young girl holding a candle for a ceremony celebrating the birth of John the Baptist.

The billboard, beckoning viewers to “Add Some Fine Art to Your Life,” will be on display downtown at 9th and Broadway through February. Three more works from the SDMA collection will be similarly displayed in various San Diego locations over the coming year.