For the remix EP of Subb-an’s “What I do” the program was to go even deeper into the realm of old Chicago house flyers.  The remixes have a really nicely balanced mix of classic house and tech-house sounds.  I tried to mirror that with a look that was equally old and new, handmade and modern.

The layout came together easily enough.  There are some sophisticated Photoshop techniques to achieve an aged, xeroxed, cut out paper look.  My technique, however, is to print the stuff on paper, xerox it a few times, and cut it out with scissors.  Novel!

The proof was straight forward but needed something to fill all that negative space behind Subb-an’s figure.  I put together a couple rows of what was meant to be wheat pasted posters of the original EP artwork.

Once everything was composited, all that was left was to apply color.  Done.

I’m excited for the release of this one – the Tom Trago remix is incredible!

My sister was aghast when I told her I was getting our mother a Kindle for Christmas (I was hoping to eradicate the presence of trashy paperbacks with trashier covers once and for all).  She, like me, has a sentimental love for a flesh and bones paper book.  So there might have been a tinge of vengeance in the Christmas gift she got me: a 1953 printing of Saul Bellow’s “The Adventures of Augie March”.  I had included the book on a shortlist thinking no one would be able to find an old, weather copy.  It’s currently the 10th anniversary selection of  “One Book, One Chicago”. a Chicago Public Library program wherein a Chicago-related book is featured and conceivably read by Chicagoans at the same time, supported by numerous discussions.  But an hour outside of the city my sister happened upon a secluded used bookstore with a one-armed proprietor, and a patinated copy for sale.

Handsome, don’t you think?

The image comes from a random snapshot I took on my street a couple years ago.  I often feel silly taking so many random shots, but there’s no question that some of the best images, tableau, and inspiration come from perfectly random instances.

The program for the artwork was to give a clever (or semi-clever) interpretation of the original release.  I knew it would be best not to get too clever, and simply streamlined the textures and switched around the colors within the same palette.  I think it probably looks a bit stronger than the original release, but I suppose that’s bound to be the case when you get a second crack at your own artwork with a month of hindsight.

I’ve been going to Smart Bar for close to 10 years now, so it has a special place in my heart.  As such, I was sure to include lots of somewhat secret personal references throughout the mural.

For instance, when a German yogi tells you to go deeper and deeper (“tiefer und tiefer”), you do it.

He found me while I was in Hamburg in 2007.  I couldn’t get over the unintentional hilarity of a German meditative guru.  I felt the Smart Bar mural needed something of a mantra, and what better for an underground dance club than “deeper and deeper”?

I also found this lovely lady in Hamburg:

She ended up driving a bus.

The other symbols are less secret, especially if you’ve read “Kafka on the Shore”.  Johnny Walker, Colonel Sanders, a mackerel, a cat, and even Mr. Nakata can be seen in the mural.  But like many things, they’re best left being discovered on their own.

At about the same time, I had been commissioned to produce a mural for the nightclub Smart Bar.  The 9.2′x66′ wall behind the DJ booth needed freshening up, and I was lucky enough to be selected to put my mark on far and away my favorite music venue.

If you’ve never been to Smart Bar, you may still know about it’s legendary place in the world of dance music.  It was crafted in the same vein as Manchester’s Hacienda Club, but has lasted much longer.  It’s no exaggeration to say that Smart Bar has played host to the most important DJ’s that have laid hands on records.  It’s less to do with famous DJs, and much more to do with music makers – esoteric or not – who are there to do something special while at the peak of their game.  I’ve seen Daniel Wang lay down disco there, Steve Bug throw down the most amazing tech-house set I’ve ever heard, and my absolute favorite – a guy that not many had heard of at the time – Erlend Oye – run through his entire DJ Kicks album…live (and danced with the crowd to Prince records afterward).

The space itself is special – it’s in the basement of equally legendary rock club Metro.  Taking stairs down to an all black, subterranean space where music thumps on a Funktion One system is quite an experience.  Spending a night there to give your mind and body up to your favorite tunes is nothing short of a transcendent experience.  It’s with that as the template that I set out on the mural.  And it only made sense to pay homage to the story that had acted as my muse.

(Click to scroll through enlarged images)

 SMARTBAR 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

I split the space into four sections – the area behind the DJ booth (that simply reads “SMARTBAR”), and three narrative sections – The Spiritual, The Everyday, and realm where the two operate as one in the same.  Smart Bar, after all, is a place where the real and the unreal overlap, comingle, and even become one.

The monks at left are the spiritual, or metaphysical, components of the story of the mural.  They are what cannot be touched, but are the essential idea engine of the space.  I was happy to put them to the left of the DJ booth – that’s where the trainspotters tend to lurk at the club.  In other words, the people who are less about dancing and more into what records or tracks the DJ is playing tend to gather here and peek over the booth to see what’s going on.

The pedestrians are the everyday, seemingly most “real” (but as Murakami would have us believe, the least real) component.  These are the quotidian machinations of human life, the unconscious movements through an ethereal space.  This space to the right of the DJ booth is more or less the “VIP” section of Smart Bar.  That’s a bit of a misnomer, as Smart Bar is the most egalitarian of clubs, but I loved the idea of friends and hangers-on of the DJ mingling amongst faceless pedestrians going about their very boring lives.

All the way to the right, the metaphysical and quotidian become one – they make up the consciousness of an anonymous, disembodied head that is made up of Chicago structures and laid over CTA buses.  It was decided early on that that area should be the focal point of the mural – it is the only part of the wall that can be seen from the entrance of the club, and draws the viewer into the rest of the piece.

Some imagery is further explained in this post.