DC area artist Linda Hesh’s “Art Ads” are in the Washington Post today as small ads in the main national and world news section.

On Tuesday, October 19th, the interracial couple ad appears, and the gay couple ad will appear on Tuesday, October 26th.

According to Hesh, The New York Times refused to place these ads because their policy is that all advocacy ads must clearly state and opinion, and their opinion is that these do not.

This is one of the most original art ideas that I have been aware of in many years. Linda Hesh‘s work has always eloquently discussed questions of race, ethnicity and gender issues, but “Art Ads” takes her artwork to a new public level of discourse.

Her pieces start with a photograph of a friend, or couple, taken at a commercial portrait studio, which gives the work a common, commercial look. She then adds a statement underneath the image, or digitally changes the image itself. Hesh