Tribute to Logan Square

This is the first Action Project for my "If These Walls Could Talk" art course. The purpose of this project was to select a neighborhood and identify a specific need and address it by creating a mural solving that problem. I chose to do Logan Square and the need that I personally found was that the culture of the graffiti in that neighborhood was being overthrown by more organized murals and installations. I learned a lot about the history of Logan Square and how graffiti has shaped Logan Square as a neighborhood. I am very proud of my image because I feel that I went out of my "normal" art expertise and I still made an illustration that I am very proud of.  I am really proud of the art piece that I created for this Action Project because it will most likely go on my art portfolio for college.

BKJ

Tribute to Logan Square

11/18/2015

11” x 14”

Bristol paper

I chose to do my illustration about Logan Square because I saw a need that lies with the people that go unknown everyday, graffiti artists. In the 80's and 90's, graffiti was a big part of the culture in Logan Square and the neighborhood was filled with graffiti artists. Today, Logan Square is a graffiti desert and is overrun with organized art such as murals and installations.

When graffiti first started it was more integrated into gangs than it is today. Chicago’s gangs began in the 1920s with Al Capone, and by the ‘70s, they grew to include minorities with 600 gang factions with 70,000 gang members. ABC crew was one of the first graffiti crews to start in Logan Square. In 1983, a movie called “Style Wars” showed the graffiti elements broken down. The movie also emphasized the movement created around hip-hop, which included the 5 elements: graffiti, breakdancing, music, DJing, MCing, and Knowledge.

. Perez and a man named Berto became ABC: the “Angel and Berto Crew.” Later, a man named Chris joined, so it was “Angel, Berto and Chris.” This grew to be the “Atomic Bombing Crew,” and, finally in 1985, it was the “ Artistic Bombing Crew.” Flash ABC, a graffiti artist from Logan, said that people created their tags because they were tired of gangs. ABC crew was one of the first graffiti crews to spawn out of Logan and today, members are still respected as legends. Graffiti was first done on the Mega Mall in Logan and became the practicing wall for graffiti writers. As styles grew so did their range of spots. They started spanning all over public transit and soon, ABC crew had 22 spots spanned all over the blue line.

The purpose of my mural is to pay tribute to the old graffiti artist that grew up in Logan Square and to the new-era graffiti artists that still thrive there today. The image is also a revolt against organized art and pushing artists to create at like they used to, which is on the streets and for the most part illegally. I did this by sketching The Eagle statue in Logan Square is the focus of my image because in the 80’s up until today, it has been deemed “The Writers’ Bench.” In the late 80’s until now, the eagle in Logan square has been a meeting point for many writers. Back in the day the eagle was where all the graffiti artists would hang out, sketch, share photos, talk smack and just have a good time. This, in my opinion, is one of the most significant locations, to graffiti artists and that is why I chose it to be the center of attention. To show the importance of the eagle I mimicked the gilding technique used by artists during the Renaissance. The technique is used to show importance and to emphasize the subject  To further emphasize the importance of the Eagle, I’ve added light yellow spots on the eagle to symbolize the sun shining on it showing a bright future. there are cracks on the base of the statue to show that the past is falling apart. Finally,  the banner that spans across the page reads, “Take it back to the streets” because I feel that we need to create art like we used to and move away from more organized art such as murals and installations.