Year: 2014

Encountering life's questions on a CTA train

23 questions on a train ride

You encounter what appears to be a wall of notes written by a crazy person. 23 sticky notes arranged on a grid by a seat on the train. Many reflective questions that question our perspective of life. Questions of self-awareness and human nature. Why would someone be rapid-firing all these questions onto sticky notes on …

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words with art in the middle

Words with “art” in the middle

“art” is at the core of “earth” so is: carte carts darts farts garth harts karts marts parts party tarts tarty warts warty Fun that art would be the core of farts, party, and warty. Then for 7-letter words, art being exactly at the center: dearths, hearted, hearten, hearths, pearter, peartly, quartan, quarter, quartes, quartet, …

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idiocy is the essence of the male mind

The truth of Seinfeld can be applied to comic strips

If you say Seinfeld is a show about nothing, then you know nothing about the Seinfeld sitcom. Seinfield is about everything It’s not a show about nothing. It’s a show about everything, says Nico Lang of the Daily Dot’s great article, “Debunking the biggest myth about ‘Seinfield’ that everyone believes” One could be forgiven for …

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Winner of best St. Patrick's Day coat

12 things I love about Chicago’s CTA public transit

We love public transit, we hate public transit. Occasionally there are days that challenge us, as the Chicagoist demonstrates with its post, “9 Unfortunate Thoughts We’re All Are Having On The CTA.” While releasing angst about commuting can be therapeutic; on a daily basis being negative can wear you down. Instead it’s good to be …

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White-out monster in front of Art Institute of Chicago

Goal: Have one of my artworks officially on display in a major art museum

The opportunity: The Art Institute of Chicago was asking for “surrealist objects” last week as a promotion for the current Magritte exhibit. The objects will be selected by the curator of the Magritte show and will be displayed in the Art Institute’s Modern Wing for one day. I created a surrealist object and submitted it …

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The other White-out Monster

Developing the voice for the White-out Monster

One part finger monster. One part white-out. Inspired by Magritte’s surrealism exhibit at the Art Institute. Take all these together and what do you have? The “White-out Monster” who likes to paint things white. Yesterday I wrote up an interview with this fictional character. If you haven’t had a chance to read the interview, please …

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White-out monster talks about why Wrigley Building

Secrets behind origin of Wrigley Building design revealed by mythical artist

Many of Chicago’s iconic buildings are white today, because of an unknown artist working today. This artist has managed to keep his identity relatively unknown for the past hundreds of years. He’s also managed to stay alive for the past hundreds of years because… he’s monster. This mythical creature regularly visits the city of Chicago …

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How to make a surrealist sculpture with office supplies and a finger monster

If you had to make a surrealist sculpture only with office supplies and a finger monster, what would you make? Walking around the 14th floor of the Tribune Tower with a finger monster wedged onto my finger, I weighed my options. Surrealism is all about irrational juxtaposition of images and words. So simply take one …

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