WICKER PARK — Since her new mural "Mass_Observation" went up on Wednesday, artist Krista Wortendyke has been told it's "pretty" and "really nice" by passersby who commented on the artwork on the exterior wall of The Violet Hour cocktail lounge at 1520 N. Damen Ave.
And from afar, or even at a close distance without too much examination, the 76 images captured from YouTube videos of the Rodney King and Ferguson, Missouri race riots do look kind of pretty, with flashes of fire, blurs of people and colorful emergency lights. But the reality of the scenes is sobering.
The artist says that's the core of her message.
"We have this idea that we can experience something through TV, but really it is aestheticized and super mediated," said Wortendyke, who wants her mural to look like an Instagram feed because the photo sharing site is one of the larger avenues where people get information from.
Wortendyke, a 37-year-old West Loop resident, teaches photography at Columbia College.
"Mass _Observation" will stick around until the first week of September. The Violet Hour, which opened in 2007 and traces its name to a T.S. Eliot poem, camouflages its facade and entry door with fresh artwork every six to eight weeks.
In 2010, Wortendyke's "Killing Season: Chicago 2010," a visual documentation of sites of Chicago murders, was featured on the lounge's exterior wall.
Wortendyke says that "Mass_Observation" draws its inspiration from a study in England where untrained volunteers were tasked with documenting every day life in Britain.
Instagram posts and YouTube videos posted by witnesses are "less biased" than media coverage of race riots, Wortendyke said.
"So for me, if this [mural] were an Instagram feed [of the riots] it would supposedly be less biased," she said.
"Mass_Observation" replaces Christophe Gausparro's July mural featuring toy guns painted gold, titled "What may blossom when the guns are buried."
Previous murals have included a piece inspired by Chicago Ideas Week focused on visual brainstorming, a deer similar to Bambi, a twilight-hued nightclub scene, a "cow traffic jam" and abstract designs that have been the target of taggers, among others.
Last summer, Big Star's "Door Guy," who gets a front row view of the murals underway, ranked his top five walls.
A pedestrian walks past "Mass_Observation" on Thursday. [DNAinfo/Alisa Hauser]
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
