on the walk to work...

The walk to work takes me down Chicago Avenue from 1600 west to 900 west. This is a great route for viewing street art in Chicago. There is frequently new work being thrown up along this stretch ranging from handmade slaps to massive bombing assaults. As fresh and interesting stuff catches my eye it will be posted under this title.

Today we have a little street art history from the walk to work. I walk past this water tower every day. It's on the roof of a building on Chicago Avenue next to the expressway. Shepard Fairey hit this tower with large paste ups on two different occasions. In 1999 he put up an old school Andre face (inset, above) and in 2001 an Andre icon (inset, below). Fairey dedicates a page in his book "OBEY: Supply And Demand" to recounting the events surrounding the 2001 hit. After being caught in the act, arrested and spending the night in jail, he was able to persuade the building's owner to drop the charges against him. It turned out that the owner's kids were fans of Fairey's work.

Currently the water tower sits unadorned.

inset photos from OBEY: Supply and Demand , The Art of Shepard Fairey, 20th Anniversary Edition available directly from the Obey Giant website here.

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