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Soccer Pro-Turned-Artist Sprays Dizzying Colors for New Violet Hour Mural

By Alisa Hauser | June 11, 2015 5:10pm
 Amsterdam-based artist Does working on a new mural at The Violet Hour.
The Violet Hour, New Mural by Does, June 9, 2015
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WICKER PARK —  Digital Does, an Amsterdam-based graffiti artist who turned to a career in art after injuring his knee as a professional soccer player, has completed a new mural along the wall of a Wicker Park cocktail lounge.

Debuting Wednesday along The Violet Hour's 35-by-11-foot exterior facade at 1520 N. Damen Ave., the vibrant and colorful mural replaced "Post No Bills." The speakeasy-style lounge, which opened in 2007 and traces its name to a phrase in a T.S. Eliot poem, camouflages its facade and entry door with artwork every six to eight weeks.

The artist, who goes by Does, will have works displayed at "DOES: Transition," opening at 6 p.m. Saturday at Maxwell Collette Gallery, 908 N. Ashland Ave. The solo exhibit hangs through July 31st.

Children leaving school walk past a new mural by Does. [DNAinfo/Alisa Hauser]

On Wednesday evening, Damien Johnson, a host at The Violet Hour, was hanging out in front of Big Star, 1531 N. Damen Ave., and looking at the new mural.

"Each one evokes a different feeling. This one is very complex, it has a lot of hard and soft lines. In the beginning [when Violet Hour opened] it was like, 'Who wants to do [the wall] this month?'  Now it is a big deal, we have had some really amazing artists," Johnson said.

Does is an "international artist recognized for his dizzying choice of colors, clean style and eye for detail," according to a street art biography site.

Watch a documentary about Does here.

Just south of Wicker Park's Milwaukee, Damen and North avenues intersection, the mural has featured many unique facades. Since January, the wall has featured a homage to a graffiti tagger, Nekst, as well as large colorful faces from surfer/artist Rex Flodstrom that brightened up a long winter.

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