Billboard Location - Route 46 and Ruby Ave, Palisades Park, NJ

WYCKOFF ARTIST’S WORKTO BE FEATURED IN

NEW JERSEY’S FIRST-EVER HIGHWAY ART GALLERY

Mark Oberndorf’s Art Piece Named Winner in Statewide Competition to

Help Beautify NJ’s Highways

BERKELEY HEIGHTS, NJ – August 10, 2009 – Congratulations to Mark Oberndorf of Wyckoff, whose NJ-inspired landscape entitled “Bendix Diner” was announced as one of 13 winning pieces in the Palisades Highway Art Gallery competition. His painting will bedisplayed on Rt. 46 at Ruby Ave. – Bergen County beginning the week of August 17, making passersby smile every time they drive by.

“Being named a winner in this competition is one of the most amazing things to happen in my career,” said Oberndorf. “I think that the whole idea is really unique and I’m so excited to be a part of it.”

Oberndorf is a contemporary realist painter whose mission is to document "fast vanishing" Bergen County structures using oil paint on linen canvas, though the subjects of his collective work span the nation. He holds a bachelor of science degree from Rider University and has studied his craft with the Art Students' League in New York City. Oberndorf's work has appeared at the Sola Gallery, Provincetown, Mass.; the J. Richards Gallery in Englewood, NJ; the Lois Richards Gallery in Greenwich, Conn.; and the Kerygma Gallery in Ridgewood, NJ.

The Palisades Highway Art Gallery is the state’s first-ever highway art gallery, using prominent billboards to display the work of local artists throughout New Jersey. The initiative was officially launched on July 13^th with the unveiling of two billboards by renowned New Jersey artists Tim Daly of Hoboken and Gary Godbee of Westfield. The contest inspired state artists to submit over 940 original paintings, drawings, photography and mixed media interpretations of the state’s beautiful landscapes to the Palisades Drive With a Smile Web site. Visitors to the site viewed the submissions and voted for their favorites pieces over four weeks this summer. In the end, Mark Oberndorf’s “Bendix Diner” was one of the public’s top favorites and selected to be one of the featured artists of the Palisades Highway Art Gallery. All submissions to the Highway Art Gallery are on display on the Palisades Drive With a Smile Web site.

The Palisades Highway Art Gallery is the first initiative of the Palisades Drive With a Smile campaign, with the goal to remind drivers about the best the Garden State has to offer and create nicer New Jersey driving moments and more smiles all around. For more information about the Drive with a Smile campaign or the Palisades Highway Art Gallery, visit Palisades.com/DriveWithaSmile.