I'm Back

I walked away from blogging for a while while I focused on the art blog I'm involved with, NeotericArt. Well, for the most part, I've exhausted everything I wanted to say about the art world.

Since then, I've been occasionally been writing extended Facebook updates.  It seems to me this would be more of an appropriate venue for that.  It's also a good place to archive those thoughts. Therefore, in the next week or so, I'll be moving those posts over here. After that, I'll be writing more frequently.  I do have something to say that I can't or that I don't want to say through my art.

I will also add a link from the navbar on my site so more people can find this.  As it is now, spam bots are the only visitors that this blog gets.

In any case, it's good to be back.

Lill Coal and Oil

William Dolan 

Our Landlord bought his coal from a smaller outfit, as there were still quite a few in Chicago in the 1960s. Lill Coal and Oil was one of the largest. They had a yard at Berwyn and what is the Red Line, today. I remember seeing the coal cars that the CTA dropped off at night next to the L tracks. I believe, The North Shore Line used to deliver these cars. Coal heat was still very popular back then, especially in the larger corner apartment buildings. Like today, the owners of these places did not like to invest money in them, so they were slower to upgrade the heating systems to oil or natural gas. I love the smell of coal.

Open All Night

As the late and early 19th century neighborhoods have been largely demolished to make way for the early 21st century neighborhoods, the mid-century section of the city and inner ring suburbs have been left alone, for the most part. Some of it is decaying and is looking well-worn.

Grotesque

I would like to see a revival in grotesques. There has been a trend in the last couple of decades of referencing the architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries in modern buildings. This, along with a renewed interest in ornate fixtures, such as street lights, gives the urban and suburban environment a warmer, more human feeling, I guess.

Unfortunately, in many cases it hasn't been done well. This leads to a cartoonish, Disneyesque recreation of past cities that never existed. Perhaps adding some grotesques and gargoyles would help.

Support System

We all need some sort of support system to succeed in life. However, it is important not to loose one’s sense of self while being part of someone else’s support system.

Safety First

Before busses and L trains were air conditioned, they had windows that opened. Of course, the passengers had to be warned not to "put head or arms out of window."

Several times during the life of the vehicles, the interiors were repainted. This was always done by brush. As an economic measure, they painted around the warning stickers.

This one has been vandalized in a demonstration of creativity that was very common by the mid-seventies. During the sixties and early seventies, it was very rare to see vandalism in and on Chicago Transit Authority vehicles. However, as the 1970s progressed the thickly padded seats in the busses and trains were getting slashed at an alarming rate, leading to the hard, uncomfortable fiberglass seats of today.

Norton

The crankcase cover of a Norton has an interesting shape that lends itself to exploring the abrstract reflections.