ANDERSONVILLE — Chicago artist Matthew Hoffman wants to put up public art installations that simply read "You Are Beautiful" around Andersonville this spring, but he needs your help.
Nonprofit community group eco-Andersonville launched a Kickstarter campaign to bring Hoffman's positive murals to the neighborhood. It must raise $5,000 by March 4. As of Thursday, it had raised more than $2,000.
Public art "can go a tremendous way in changing the dynamic of a neighborhood corner or wall," said Brian Bonanno, who is the sustainability programs manager at eco-Andersonville.
This isn't the first "You Are Beautiful" public art installation in Chicago. There's a giant mural on South Lake Shore Drive at Oakwood Boulevard, which faces southbound traffic. He also has murals up in Rogers Park at the Morse Avenue Metra underpass, at Roberto Clemente High School and in Beverly at 1908 W. 103rd St.
The "You Are Beautiful" project started as stickers that Hoffman distributed to anyone who would take them. Now the stickers are plastered around the globe as far away as the Great Wall of China.
Unlike his other installations, Hoffman will take up residency in Andersonville, installing multiple murals using large-format block letters throughout the neighborhood, Bonanno explained.
One of the installations will be coated in chalkboard paint to allow community members to interact with the piece, he added.
They're still finalizing the locations, but they believe one will go up on the chain-link fence near the AT&T building just south of Winona Avenje and Clark Street, another will go up at the Swedish American Museum's parking lot and a third one will go up at Clark Street and Olive Avenue near another mural, he said.
He's also working with officials at Trumbull Elementary School to install one at the corner of Clark Street and Foster Avenue near the school.
There are a couple more locations the community group is considering, including the Jewel-Osco parking lot and Edgewater Hospital, but those sites are not included on the Kickstarter page because they are less of a sure thing, he said.
Most of the property owners he's contacted have been on board, he added.
"This type of work just fits really easily," he said. "A lot of property owners shy away from mural with paint because they fear it'll be there forever, but it's easier when it's letters attached to a fence."
If the project is fully funded, the group also hopes to work with other communities to either donate or, for a low cost, spread some of the installations to other parts of the city, he said.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
