No Clue

Discovered these paper mache birds at The Magic Hedge/Montrose Harbor.  

Symmetry III

Belmont CTA Station

Symmetry II

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Garden Fountain

Symmetry I

St. Peter's Episcopal Church

COLOR WEEK: PINK AND BLUE (Color-Coded)

I did not know they color-coded these staples of street fairs ...

COLOR WEEK: BLUE

St. Peter's Episcopal Church Steeple

COLOR WEEK: YELLOW (Violin Lollipop)

Lakeview sculpture

COLOR WEEK: GREEN (Now THIS is a Bottle Tree)

This Bottle Tree was on display - along with other sculptures made entirely of Found Objects - at the Lakeview Arts Festival.

Now THAT'S a Bottle Tree!

COLOR WEEK: PINK (Happy Hip Homes)

I saw this banner and somehow pictured the apartments as having shag carpeting, Harvest Gold toned appliances, lava lamps and - probably in the higher rent styles - conversation pits.

Perhaps I should stop watching "That 70s Show" reruns.

One Interpretation

An interpretation of the City of Chicago Flag at a hotdog place.

Just like the actual City of Chicago Flag, the symbols on this one clearly represent the real Chicago Hotdog:

• The three white stripes must represent the base layer of the hotdog: the Poppyseed Bun, the All-Beef Hotdog and the Mustard

• The two blue stripes clearly represent the two special ingredients: the neon green pickle relish and the celery salt

• The red stars - uh, I mean hotdogs - seem to represent the remaining components of the official hotdog: Chopped Raw Onion, Sport Peppers, Tomato Wedges, and a Dill Pickle

The Chicago History Museum has a good description of what the symbols on the actual Chicago Flag mean. You can click here for the link.

Sepia Line

The Armitage Stop on the Brown Line. Since it was the Brown Line, I did it in sepia-tone ;)

Storage?

It's an interesting place to store a can of paint. Actually, there are THREE cans of paint sitting precariously on that shelf. The paint cans almost have to belong to somebody inside the building because there isn't a way to get to that little alcove from the outside. It's a couple of stories up from the sidewalk. (I was on the Brown Line el at Belmont when I took this.)

Standing in Line

The artistic touches at the Wellington stop on the CTA Brown Line.

Theme Day: Graffiti

Today is the first of October so that means it is Theme Day on City Daily Photo. October's theme, chosen by vote of all the people in City Daily Photo, is Graffiti.

Now this was a tough theme. Chicago banned sales of spray paint and indelible markers back in 1995. So the only graffiti we get is done by tourists and suburbanites and - let's face it - they save their best stuff for their hometowns. Yeah, you can find the random declarations of "A.B. Loves C.D. 4-ever", gang tags, and other less-than-enthusiastic exclamations done with Sharpie markers, but there's not much in the way of really deep thoughts like "Kilroy was Here" or "Clapton is God".

I have found these three, though.

The one on the top left is an old photo of graffiti that showed up under Lake Shore Drive in late 2008. I found the graffiti shown in the bottom photo in the Lakeview Neighborhood earlier this week. It seems to be Illinois' former governor striking a very Jailhouse Rock Elvis-esque pose. The one at the top right is interesting. I walked over to take a photo of the blank square that was painted over a graffiti portrait of the former governor in a striped prison outfit. (I was going to lament how if you don't get a photo of the graffiti when you see it, it could be painted over quite quickly.) But I found this graffiti portrait instead! It had to have been done this week. I'm pretty sure it is commentary on the mayor's decision not to run again next year.

None of these seemed to have any signature, but they must have been done by the same person. And that person seems to have a unique political sense of humor.

ADDENDUM

OK, after a few commenters mentioned that these looked like the work of Banksy, I did a little more internet searching. Although Banksy was apparently in Chicago in the Spring, I think these may actually be the work of a School of the Art Institute graduate known as CRO (aka Ray Noland). He seems to do a lot of graffiti related to Chicago politics and a number of his works were at the same location of the Golfing Mayor piece.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Remind Me!

As the CTA remodels the stations, especially on the Brown Line, it is adding artsy touches to each one. This seems to be the soon-to-be-unveiled art installation at the Diversey El stop. I'll have to remind myself to come back in a few weeks to see it in its full glory. I'm wondering if there is lighting that will better show the shades of red and purple that you can just see in the afternoon sunlight.

Under the El

Don't some of the patterns, created by the sun shining through the el tracks at the Wellington El Stop, look a little like those critters in the old Space Invaders game? I thought so.

Maybe This Week

OK. So last week's Season Opener for the Cubs wasn't a stellar event. Today is their Home Opener and hope springs eternal ...

Chicago Igloo

We don't see igloos around here too often. But some people clearly used last week's snow storm to their advantage and built this one in their front yard.

Cool School

Stumbled upon this school in the Lakeview neighborhood. The Nettlehorst School is named for Louis Nettlehorst, the Chicago School Board President from 1890 to 1892. This particular building was constructed in 1892 but it stands on the site of one of the first public schools in the Lakeview area.

According to the website, there is quite a bit of art on the inside of the building. The outside grounds are quite artistic as well. The "Nettle Horse", an art piece constructed this year, seems to be made from scrap picture frame corners.



The front doors are pretty enticing to walk through.

And how about this big topiary dinosaur for a hall monitor?