WICKER PARK — Replacing colorful faces that kept passers-by company over a long winter, a bold mural paying homage to a prolific graffiti artist emerged Monday along the wall of a cocktail lounge known for its changing facades.
Written in silver with black shadows, the tag "NEKST" covers the 35-foot-long by 11-foot-tall exterior wall of The Violet Hour, 1520 N. Damen Ave., just south of Wicker Park's Milwaukee, Damen and North avenues intersection.
NEKST, a graffiti artist who died a little more than two years ago, got his start in Houston in the mid-1990s before moving on to New York City to join the Mad Society Kings crew, according to a Houston news report. Little is known about NEKST's personal life, according to a Houston Press obituary.
Since NEKST's death in December of 2012, artists around the world have used his tag posthumously, sharing their work on Twitter. He was in his early 30s when he died.
See other NEKST tributes here.
The artist behind the new mural is Logan Square-based photographer Lyndon French, who said he was friends with NEKST.
"I facilitated it as a tribute from one friend to another," French said of the mural, which took about three hours to create on Monday afternoon.
Earlier Monday, an Instagram user, Charlie_138, posted a photo of the mural in progress:
"@nekst_tribute #nobaddays," Charlie_138 commented.
The Violet Hour changes the murals along its front wall every few months and has showcased a wide range of artwork by rotating artists over the past few years.
Previous murals have included deer inspired by Bambi, a cartoonish "Big Drunk Guy," a twilight-hued nightclub scene, as well as geometric 3D patterns and abstract designs that have been the target of taggers.
"Big Drunk Guy" by Don't Fret:
Prior to Rex Flodstrom's mural, which showcased colorful faces from late December through Sunday, the wall featured a piece inspired by Chicago Ideas Week focused on "visual brainstorming."
Flodstrom's mural:
Chicago Ideas Week-inspired mural by the Ink Factory:
The most serious of the murals include "Killing Season: Chicago 2010," a visual documentation of sites of Chicago murders by artist Krista Wortendyke, and a sleeping homeless man by tattoo artist David Allen.
Mural by Allen:
