What started out asa week's visit to my second-born in Columbus, Ohio,
somehow turned into a road trip to Chicago.
Not only did we squeeze an amazing amount of sightseeing into forty-eight hours,
but we stayed a mere block away from my former office and retraced
the streets and sights of my life in Chicago
all those many years ago.
* * * * *
After a surprisingly quick deliberation at lunch, my daughter and I agreed on a plan for our one and only afternoon in Chicago. We crossed a few quick blocks south of the Loop and turned onto Wabash Avenue. And there an outrageous journey began to unfold.
This is the Wabash Arts Corridor. Murals fill the sides of buildings in what was just a few years ago a rundown end of town but now pulses with art and culture. We loaded a map on our phones to help locate the artworks, but we quickly realized this was unnecessary. To find the next mind-blowing exhibit, all we had to do was look. The neighborhood is literally exploding with street art.
My daughter and I spent the afternoon staring in awe at several dozen extravagant murals, admiring not only the artworks themselves but the way that the artists used the shapes and colors of the buildings themselves to maximize the impact of their work.
We took hundreds of pictures, that's for sure. These are some of my very favorites.
^These two murals sat next to each other above a parking lot, the white symbols on the left and the bubble-blowing moose on the right. At first glance, they seem quite different - one all monochromatic symbols and the other a portrait of whimsical wildlife. But as I look on and on, the pattern of the grey linear fencing behind the moose starts to vibe with the rows of abstracted characters, and the big pink bubble repeats itself over and over in the white round shapes. Far from opposites, these two murals echo each other's strengths and I find them a delightful pairing.
^ From where I stand to take the moose's photo, I turn ninety degrees right to see the L rattling by and another mural peeping through under the tracks. The rumbling immediacy of city life is a constant presence in this outdoor museum.
^ Down a side street, I pop into an alley and find this. The black outlines of the art echo in the rigid structure of the brick wall and again in the vent up above. But the wild looping lines of the tribal image projects a carefree energy that creates quite a buzz in this tiny space.
^ Are they jalapeno peppers, high-heeled shoes, or simply giant red amoebas splashed across this parking structure? I don't know but when offset by the cool blues of the mosaic tower behind them, I am intrigued.
^ The gleaming native face and glossy headless stallion would be gorgeous in any space. But captured between the strip of old brick above and the worn grass below, these images fill me with a poignant sense of lost freedom.
^ Icy blue tones and weird abstracted shapes. Are there letters in there? Maybe a hidden message? I don't know because I am totally distracted by the grids in the windows above the mural and the fire escapes to the right. They add a geometric stability to the wild abstraction, and I am totally digging the balance.
^ The lower section of the wall captures a painting that weirdly reminds me of old-school Soviet communist propaganda, and the top implies classic capitalism still going strong. Though I'm not sure the comparison is intended, I like how these two pieces speak to one together.
^ Well. The second I laid eyes on this one, I channeled Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam hard core. As seen on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, God's hand is shown in the moment of human creation, and the blasting angles and dazzling colors here make it pretty clear to me that this piece is capturing the same instant. In this scene, my daughter plays the role of Adam.
^ The brilliant colors of the hand artwork wrap around the building: I follow along to the end of painting, turn around, and this is what I see. I do not exaggerate when I say the neighborhood is bursting with art.
^ Mystical and magical mountains set the backdrop for two animals that look like they just stepped off the forests of Pandora. Surrounded by stardust, they nuzzle noses and glow with unearthly light. Watching them, I feel endless groovy vibes and I can only imagine that the people who live in this apartment building must have very sweet dreams.
^ There's some serious sweet talk pouring out of this receiver, and my mind is filled with memories of my teenage talk time on our old black phone that looked just like this one.
^ Small, intricately painted tiles piece together to make a peacock. And while at first, I find the scale of this piece to be a big let down from the enormous murals I've seen on most other buildings, I come to appreciate the restraint of this artist and intimacy of this piece. I also like the green paint on the boarded window, and somehow my brain incorporates that into the image.
* * * * *
These photos capture roughly half the murals I saw in the Wabash Arts Corridor. Though all have merit, they are my favorites.
But if you push me to pick my single most favorite of all, I have to choose the moose.
* * * * *
Read more stories about my long overdue reunion with the city with big shoulders:
The Bean
The Gorilla And The Flamingo
Doughnut Vault
Wells Street Bridge
The Rookery
Flamingo Again
Wabash Arts Corridor
The Berghoff
Glossier Pop-Up
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