Edwin Church, The Icebergs, oil on canvas, 1861 – one of the DMA paintings included in Art Everywhere

Online favorites contest and Top 10 lists are the internet’s ways of drawing traffic when, you know, actual content won’t.  But now art museums are in the game with a big new populist stab at ‘bringing art to the public’ and ‘becoming part of the conversation.’

Its being billed as the “largest outdoor art show ever conceived.” How big, exactly?

“Coast-to-coast, every state, Times Square, Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles” is how DMA director Max Anderson puts it. Oh yes, and that includes North Texas, too. The DMA is teaming up with four major museums around the country — from the Whitney in New York to the Art Institute of Chicago and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art — to bring “Art Everywhere.”

The idea is simple. Starting in August, fifty works of American art from the five museums will be on display in public spaces like billboards, buses, and subways across the country. No word yet on where they’re likely to pop up around here — look for them on Outdoor Advertising Association billboards, the OAA is the big sponsor of this. Actually, Art Everywhere made its debut last year in the U.K., showcasing British art. But Anderson says this is the American version, meaning we have our own story to tell and not just pretty pictures to display: “We’re a nation of immigrants, so we have the beauty and the extraordinary breadth and variety of talent, imagination, cultural influences that inform a nation of a third of a billion people.”

And in true American fashion, deciding which art will go up will be a democratic process – online: “It’s kind of like American Idol – you can go on in and make your voice be heard.”

Starting today, Sunday, people can visit ArtEverywhereUS.org to vote on the art they’d like to see in their neighborhood. Only fifty of the 100 works will make the cut. The Final Fifty will be revealed on August 4^th in Times Square. Get a peek at the art up for vote at KERAnews.org, and cast your ballot at Art Everywhere U-S dot org.

Next up, the coalition of five art museums will start putting up online surveys with titles like “Which Post-Impressionist Are You?” and “What This Russian Constructivist Did Next Will Amaze You.”

No? Really? Too bad. But OK, here’s Max: