One of the valuable finds during my epic website spring cleaning was the series of drawings and paintings I made about eight years ago at the Chicago Cultural Center. I spent quite a bit of time there watching people and eavesdropping on conversations.

This was during the very brief window of almost having a literary agent. We discussed a book project that might be part of a kind of franchise based on Wendy MacNaughton’s Meanwhile in San Francisco. The plan was to get a bunch of artist/writers to make books about their cities. They were considering me for Chicago.

For various reasons, it never happened. The agent stopped returning me email soon after. I filed the art and notes away and moved on to something else.

Over the years, I tried periodically to revive this work, to fit it into something knew. Brian Leli published a version as pdf with some accompanying text as part of a thing called Single Cell, which I can no longer find online.

Looking at the stuff now, I see it as prologue to the CTA marker series I made several years later. It’s all part of the same all-encompassing project.

Until I figure out a permanent physical home for this stuff, I’ve made a page on the site for it. I’ve sold a few of the originals, but still have most of them. Drop me a line if you’d like one. It won’t set you back much.