Graffiti Chicago

Graffiti Chicago takes your spray cans to the walls every writer in Chicago knows.

FOUR CHICAGO PLACES

• PILSEN: the 16th Street rail embankment on a crisp fall morning. Bay after bay of murals and tags, a freight rolling along the top, the street dipping under the tracks, two-flats, a paleta cart and the church towers across the road.
• THE LOOP: an alley off Wabash at night. Old brick, fire escapes and sodium lights, and the L thundering over the street at the alley mouth with the towers lit up above.
• LAKEFRONT: the painted limestone blocks on Lake Michigan at dusk, the old beach house, sailboats heading in and the skyline down the shore.
• RIVERWALK: under a red bascule bridge on the Chicago River on a snowy winter morning, a tour boat sounding its horn and the corn-cob towers across the water.

THE CITY IS ALIVE

People walk the sidewalks, wait at the paleta cart, sit on the benches by the lake and stop to photograph your work. Trains, traffic, the lake and the boat horns keep Chicago moving around you.

PAINT IT

Eight CITIVIEW spray cans, skinny, medium and fat caps, 32 stencils including A to Z, real mist and drips on 20 walls of cast concrete, Chicago brick, limestone and river-wall concrete. Take a photo of your piece and switch places from the menu.