Paintings by five central Ohio artists are giving new meaning to the term "street art" in Columbus: The sanctioned works fill some of the unrented billboards throughout the city.

The high-profile exposure is part of an inaugural public gallery called ArtPop Columbus, which takes its name from a North Carolina-based nonprofit seeking to promote the work of local artists in communities throughout the country.

The Greater Columbus Arts Council and the Columbus arm of Lamar Advertising, which manages the billboards, teamed to make the project happen. Lamar donated the billboard space, and GCAC contributed $5,000 to pay for vinyl replicas of the winning designs and provided each artist a stipend, said Jami Goldstein, vice president of marketing for GCAC.

Vinyl replicas of the five paintings — chosen from the 33 submitted by Franklin County-based artists through an open call — were recently installed and will be featured at various locations during the next year based on Lamar's available board space.

Among them is "Love," artist David Butler's depiction of two African-American couples. The painting, inspired by Harlequin novel covers of the mid- to late 20th century, is displayed on a billboard on West Broad Street east of Hilliard Rome Road.

Butler, who is part of an collective known as Artfluential, said his work has never received such high visibility.

“This is an opportunity for people to connect with an artist on a larger scale,” said Butler, 33, of the Far East Side. “I hope they look at it and see great work.”

Columbus is one of three cites — the others are Nashville, Tennessee, and Charleston, South Carolina — to join the ArtPop program this year, raising to 14 the number of cities now working with the organization.

Wendy Hickey, who has been selling billboard ads since 1998, founded ArtPop (the "Pop" stands for "public outdoor project") in 2014 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The project has the dual goals of promoting artists on a large scale and also making artwork more accessible to the public.

“I thought, 'I want to be their voice, and I want to be their launchpad to help them get known in their own backyard,' " said Hickey, executive director of ArtPop. “Commuters are looking at this art and going, ‘I want to know more about that.’ ”

Hickey conceived the idea in 2002 while working in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania — where, as a member of the board of the Pocono Arts Council, she helped showcase artwork on area billboards for artists who paid for the vinyl replica.

In the ensuing years, the concept spread to Michigan and Illinois before Hickey formally established the nonprofit program in 2015.

These days, as she travels the country for her advertising job, she routinely meets with arts councils to gauge their interest in funding an ArtPop venture.

A stop in the Short North during a visit to Columbus about a year ago was all Hickey needed to appreciate the city's passionate arts community. She met with Goldstein, who embraced the billboard concept.

“I love the idea of turning it around so it’s not a bunch of messaging but just this brilliant, gorgeous image,” Goldstein said. “We’re so inundated with advertising; I’m looking forward to people driving by and saying: ‘Hey, that’s really cool. What is that?’ ”

The pair reached out to Lamar executives, who agreed to donate five unrented billboards, which are worth about $20,000 a month, said Chris Avondet, general manager and vice president of the Columbus branch.

The Columbus company donates about $750,000 a year in billboard space to nonprofit organizations, Avondet said, and executives considered ArtPop a worthwhile pursuit.

“My hopes are that it increases the awareness of the arts community,” he said. “We have such great artists in our local community.”

From the 33 submissions received during the open call, a jury made up of Hickey, Goldstein, a Lamar representative and two at-large community members last monthselected the five winners — each of whom received a $500 stipend.

Jury members sought to choose pieces representing the diversity and vibrancy of the Columbus art scene.

“Some really outstanding work came in, so it was a challenging selection,” Goldstein said. “I think we ended up with this really wonderful diverse group of artists and artwork.”

Besides Butler, the artists whose work is represented are Carol Stewart of Bexley, Cody F. Miller of North Linden, Kate Morgan of the West Side and Stephanie Rond of the Clintonville neighborhood.

“I love the idea because it’s a way to make art more accessible to more people,” said Stewart, 57. “There are lots of people who don’t go to the art museum or don’t go look at original art.”

Stewart chose to submit a simple painting of two clementines in a turquoise bowl, which she thought would be clearly visible on a billboard from a distance.

For Butler, who is black, the project provided an opportunity to present a positive image of African-Americans. He especially hopes that black children accustomed to seeing billboard advertising, say, bail bondsmen or defense-lawyer services, will "see a large painting of people of color and see themselves in spaces they traditionally would not."

In his painting, Butler said, he sought to represent aspects of relationships that most couples experience: One couple is in love; the other couple's relationship is strained.

“A lot of my work is always trying to provoke conversations and show narratives."