nothing you couldn’t figure out on your own

I’m always curious when someone paints the side of a building, in broad daylight, over the span of a few days.

This piece is on the side of the Dollar General on Paulina, right off the 18th pink and green line stop in Pilsen. I didn’t catch it when it was being painted, so I figured I’d go in and talk to the workers in the store. They’d probably know something about it, right? After all, the artists probably had to get the store’s permission. I found one of the workers and asked her if she could tell me anything about it.

“We seen them taking it down and putting that up with spraypaint and stuff, but we don’t know nothing about it.”
“So it has nothing to do with the store?”
“No.”

history-makin’

now that’s my kinda job

If you’ve walked by the Smoke Shack on Halsted at Altgeld recently, you’ve noticed a new mural going up on the wall next door.

The artist responsible is keeping it low-key; staying out of my pictures, not giving me his name or even his graf alias. But he did tell me that this is what he does for a living- traveling the nation, working for advertisers. He has the rights to this wall, so he decided to do a free just-for-fun portrait of Obama.

So what if Obama doesn’t win? He told me the mural would still stay up. “It’s only as much of a political statement as you make it. It’s just a portrait, I’m not telling people to vote or anything. I hope he wins,” he added, laughing. “I’ve got a lot of money bet on him.”

He also gave me a heads up about one of his commercial pieces at the intersection of Ashland, Elston, and Armitage. I didn’t have to look long before recognizing his style in this Rémy Martin ad:

you need to see ‘we need each other’

Two guys sat at the far end of the room munching sandwiches and talking with an art-enthusiastic woman. Someone threw on a hip-hop album. I started browsing what I saw first- individual pieces from over 20 artists, following the ‘we need each other’ theme. A few were subpar (melting gummy bears?), but for the most part they whet my appetite for what I was about to see next. I turned around and…

…exquisite corpse, right in my face.

If you look closely, you can see that the squares, while separate, removable pieces, are all connected in some way. The sandwich-munchers turned out to be Andrew and Joe, two of the five founders of the ohno!doom gallery, and they explained that the process took place in two rounds- each artist was given free reign over their first square, while for the second square they referenced images of the half inch area that would be bordering it so that they could plan to connect it accordingly. “Each artist got to participate collaboratively and individually,” Andrew explained.

Aside from their awesome exhibits, my favorite thing about this gallery is that it isn’t a typical gallery. In step with street art principles, I was allowed to take pictures- “The more exposure, the better”- and got to listen to music while viewing the pieces, rather than silence or the sound of heels clicking on hard wood floor (as was my experience in the LUMA gallery). So has their exhibit gotten much of a response? “We actually had a line out the door of people waiting to get in on opening night,” they told me. Also, almost all of the squares are for sale- individually or combined with other ones next to them. They’ve already sold 12.

You can always view more of my pictures, or check out the gallery’s own photos, but I suggest stopping by during their open hours- Tues/Thurs from 7-10, and Sat 12-4.

the orkid man, revisited

so as hoped for, I finally got a chance to talk to The Orkid Man.

back in ‘95, pre-orkid man was writing other names in the ‘burbs of Chicago, experimenting with caps and cans. by 2002, he had chosen the name Orkid. out of college and unemployed, he started staying out late nights painting, and so within two years Orkid morphed into The Orkid Man, complete with a character to fit the name.

“I started to paint Orkid ’cause I liked the letters. So when I made this character, I just wanted to die in the name The Orkid Man. Plus it was kind of a play on words from the cockroach dude…The Orkin Man, [who] fights termites.”

although The Orkid Man character was created out of boredom, it is beginning to evolve into something more. “I’m starting to invest money into making him more ‘reachable’,” he said. “I’m starting to illustrate him more and making silk-screened prints to leave at shops.” this winter he hopes to give his hot dog character a 3D form.

in addition to his character’s stickers, Orkid still hits the occasional freight train (top) or rooftop, with his most recent visible from the brown line (bottom).

poetic vandalism

His stenciled cotton tshirt dangles from a hanger on the wall of the Loyola University Museum of Art (Luma)- an interesting juxtaposition with the traditionally framed works on paper and canvas.

As a reference to Michelangelo’s “The Creation of Man” and a response to homelessness, junior Loyola student Christopher Dickey contributed his piece “The Donation of Man” to the “Art of Democracy” exhibit.

“Poverty within the borders of the wealthiest nation on the planet carries with it a sense of indignity for both those who suffer from it and those more fortunate. I see the simple act of giving as instilling a sense of dignity in the less fortunate and in the charitable individual.” [from Chris' artist commentary]

About a year ago, Chris began to take the basic principles of street art and transform them into legal, ownable, wearable pieces. His experimentation with irony, political commentary, and spray paint was inspired by the artwork of UK native Banksy. “I was impressed by the level of realism he could achieve with a medium as crude as spraypaint,” Chris said. [Show runs til Nov. 9- Luma is at 820 N Michigan, near Water Tower.]

above

If you’ve noticed the drop in gas prices, you’ve indirectly noticed another signpost of the current economic situation. But beyond the ramifications on gas consumption, some are predicting that the poor and those in developing countries will receive the heaviest blow.

Traveling street artist Above left his commentary on the situation on a wall in Lisbon, Portugal. It might not solve the downward economic spiral, but it does call attention to problems that have been around all along- poverty and social disparities. Afterall, the middle class might have to cut back on holiday spending- but have we considered what the lower classes will need to forsake?

the obama trend

Obama has sparked the interest of the nation’s youth, so it’s no surprise that his campaign is capturing the creative attention of artists. So many have thrown themselves behind the movement artistically that there is an entire blog dedicated strictly to Obama art.

Chicago artist CRO, aka Ray Noland, is taking it to the streets with his Obama posters and stencils. His efforts have resulted in a traveling art exhibition called “Got Next!“, which has already popped up in Austin, Atlanta, and LA, to name a few. Luckily for those of you still not sure what to do with yourselves tonight, you can attend the Chicago opening from 6-12 PM.

On his site, Noland even provides a black and white PDF of one of his posters, with instructions on how to kick-start a guerrilla campaign in your own hood.
Or, if you’d prefer something a little more finished, pick up one of his posters or tshirts instead.

ohno!doom presents: we need each other

Not all street artists stick to the street. Nice for those of us who enjoy their art- we don’t have to wander the city looking for it.

So this Saturday, Oct. 11, head over to the ohno!doom gallery between 6 and 10 PM for the opening of their month long event “We Need Each Other.”

Each of the 40 Chicago artists were given two square panels and the theme of the exhibit, free to design and decorate as they wanted. At 16 feet long and 5 feet high, the resulting piece connects each individual effort into one. Over 20 additional Chicago-based artists have contributed their own separate interpretations of “we need each other” as well.

Some collaborative efforts can be seen on the above flier (click it for larger version). The graphics on the left actually say “we need each other”, and each word was drawn by a separate artist.

Ohno!doom is located at 2955 West Lyndale St, right off the California blue line stop.

not your typical icecream man

Chicago artist The Orkid Man has put a creative spin on a classic family treat.

You may have seen his ice cream stickers or ones like them up around the city. Not as frequent but just as witty are his tongue-in-cheek weiner tags.

Orkid doesn’t stop there though. Along with wheatpasting he’s also got some really nice pieces. Hopefully more on him to come.

But for now…

Apparently ice cream is a popular topic for art, as I stumbled on this article a few days ago. The blog documents artist’s renderings of ‘ice cream people’ (like the one to the right) and the often overlooked illustrations outside of ice cream shops that qualify as street art as much as anything else. Anyone can create their own ice cream person to add to the archives, which will eventually culminate in an exhibition.