Street Art and Chicago

I've actually been wanting to make a post like this for a long time. I initially got the idea from walking around my old neighborhood in Wicker Park and glimpsing all of the strange street art and graffiti on the sides of buildings. Alas, that neighborhood got really gentrified and I moved out and forgot about them. Fast forward five years and I'm spending nearly everyday in Pilsen at my boyfriend's house. This neighborhood is a hotbed of art and culture, from the Mexican Fine Arts Museum, to the building -side murals, and galleries full with Day of The Dead figurines. I feel as though I'm always immersed in interesting things when I'm strolling around. Below are some photos I've snapped of memorable Street Art pieces. Feel free to leave a comment on what you think. 

Creepy Pikachu....spotted this while walking Long 18th street.

Strange bionic woman giving a flower to a girl. This was posted on a pole outside of the Damen pink line stop.

This Gem of an image was actually found in Ukranian Village on the side of a restaurant. No doubt, this was a commission piece from a paid artist. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a photo with both Michael Jackson and Prince!

My boyfriend with Frank Sinatra and Mick Jagger, there were a lot of other strange celebrity pairings painted on this wall.

Also spotted in Ukranian Village.

This is actually from the inside of a bar that I went to Saturday night. I'm pretty sure it's Billie Holiday. The bar itself was really strange and we didn't stay very long. I felt like I had been transported to a John Hughes movie or some other rich kids vs. poor kids scenario.

Spotted at a bar called the flat iron in wicker Park. This is a close up of her face but the full sized image reveals she's some kinds of zombie Virgin Mary.

The final two images were seen near the Western pink line stop.

I love this drawing style and is gentleman's mustache.

It's been a while

I've decided that I need to commit myself to posting on a regular basis. I'm currently in a dry spell in which I've been working a really difficult, frustrating job, and not making things and I feel as though if I don't commit myself to producing more work, including updating my blog and website, then I might implode or drown. I've always been the type of person who's really hard on themselves and can't deal with difficult situations just by simply 'talking' through them...though that sometimes does help. I've usually had to write about it, mull it over, make something, and then do some crazy ritual dance around a fire to get all the negativity feelings out. 

For the longest time, I felt that life after college would be easy as pie. I absolutely HATE doing homework so I figured that would definitely  be the bright side to post -graduate life...and it is...coupled with the fact that I don't have to wake up at the crack of dawn and trek down to school every single goddamn day. The down side is, however, that I'm less emerged in art and academia all time and I  don't have access to all the sweet art-making facilities located at my school anymore. I also find myself less in the mood to make things after working at my exhausting and frustrating job. But, it just means that I have to try harder, right? Inspiration isn't easy to acquire all the time and art isn't 'easy' to make. With the everyday frustrations of being an adult and not having a release for that, I find myself becoming really bitter, having a really negative internal monologue and getting really jealous of my other artist friend's successes. In an attempt to alleviate this, I'm going to commit myself to at the very least ONE post a week. Happy reading!