LOGAN SQUARE — You might have met Chris Drew on the street, or at least remember the persistent street artist who challenged Chicago’s permit laws and the state’s eavesdropping law up until his death in 2012.
A film set for a one-day-only screening in Logan Square will showcase a bit of Chicago history as Drew’s longtime friend and co-conspirator Nancy Bechtol presents her documentary “Free Speech & the Transcendent Journey of Chris Drew, Street Artist” at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Logan Theater, 2646 N. Milwaukee Ave.
While Drew hadn’t initially intended to challenge the eavesdropping law in 2009, he had intended to resist the city’s peddler-licensing laws. As it turned out, his challenge to the latter began an attack on the former, which was later ruled unconstitutional by the Illinois Supreme Court.
Drew, an artist, teacher, activist and executive director of the Uptown Multi-Cultural Arts Center, knew what he was doing when he asked Bechtol to help him record more than 100 hours of footage, she said, even as he faced up to 15 years in jail after his arrest.
“He asked me to do it. He knew he was going to be arrested, in fact the plan was to be arrested so he could challenge the peddler's law. And then the twist came,” Bechtol said. “I was recording when he was just giving the art away. ... I became an American Press Association freelance journalist in 2010, because I knew I needed protection.”
That’s because what Drew was doing — handing out $1 art on the street — is illegal without a permit under Chicago’s peddler’s law. So was the time he recorded about nine police officers arresting him downtown on Dec. 2, 2009 — triggering a felony charge under the state’s now-defunct eavesdropping law.
Drew’s manifesto was built around art as free speech, an idea at home at the various protests and public demonstrations he attended in addition to his work on the street and with the American Indian Center.
Six months before he died, Drew made sure Bechtol would use the hours of recorded tape to tell the story.
“And boy is it a Chicago story,” Bechtol said. “Chris was with it all the way through and he should be recognized for it. Living the history is just so far beyond the simple statement, ‘Yes, the [eavesdropping law] was overturned,’ but like Chris said, ‘It's never over.’”
"He understood this. He knew what it was. His legacy is that and more.”
Footage in the film includes Drew at Chicago’s Critical Mass bike rides, outside the State Street Macy’s during his arrest and selling art and speaking at a slew of other spots around Chicago, where he was a recognizable fixture.
“He was out there all the time; he was everywhere, connecting with people, thousands of people,” Bechtol said. “There’s a lot to talk about when it comes to Chris Drew. Now we're looking at the Chris Drew legacy.”
Bechtol, an award-winning photographer and artist has been documenting social justice and Chicago street artists for 30 years. Her documentary on Drew’s life was shot in five different formats, including digital and cell phone footage.
A soundtrack to the film is provided courtesy of Hey Now Records, featuring Behind the Sun, Andy Alton and David Mansfield.
“This is very DIY thing for just this one night,” Bechtol said. Not part of a film festival or anything. Right now it’s doing what it’s supposed to do, it’s getting out there. People who know [Drew] know what this deal is all about — and they know why.”
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