Richard Ankrom is an artist from Los Angeles who recently made a claim to fame when it was revealed that one of his more peculiar pieces of art had been seen by millions of people - who did not even know they had been looking.

It is a fact that the transition between the California Interstate 5 and Harbor Freeway is difficult to understand. Ankrom, in his frustration, made his own green, full size highway sign, indiscernable from the "real thing".

The remarkable thing, however, is that nobody knew it was a fake sign. Even the California Department of Transportation was amazed at hearing that the sign was, in fact, not one of their own.

Caltrans decided to leave the sign where it is, and have announced they will not prosecute Ankrom for his act.

Ankrom had installed the sign in broad daylight, wearing a hard-hat and an overall, without anybody asking him what he was doing.

The Times writes:

Rather than lodge a complaint with transportation officials, Richard Ankrom simply designed a sign guiding motorists north. "It needed to be done," he told the paper. "It's not like it was something that was intentionally wrong.

links:
  • LA times article: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-050902artist.story
  • Reuters News agency article: http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=humannews&StoryID=944327

Igloowhite notes: So I live like 5 minutes from this sign. When it went up, I noticed and said "thank god someone at caltrans finally cleared that up." (!)

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