“…Shared pride, empathy for the city’s resilience in spite of its challenges, confidence and empowerment around the notion that believing in the city’s fullest potential can inspire us to overcome anything...”
So says artist Paul Brourman about his large--scale portraits of people wearing Chicago icons, the Buckingham Fountain, the Centennial Wheel at Navy Pier and Cloud Gate (the Bean) among others. Here, Picture This Post (PTP) talks to Paul Brourman (PB) about the story behind the story of making 16-ft tall, Chicago Looks Good on You portraits.
(PTP) How do you hope that the CHICAGO LOOKS GOOD ON YOU exhibit promotes both the city and your work?
(PB) I have lived in the Chicago area for the past 34 years, 28 of which were directly in the city (Bucktown, Lakeview and other neighborhoods). I worked on the development of The 606 while serving on the Advisory Board of the Trust for Public Land for 10 years, so seeing this park system come to life from the ground up fueled my pride in Chicago’s culturally diverse neighborhoods and to this day, I am proud to have been a resident. I currently live in Evanston and frequent Chicago regularly each week.
This series is an invitation to Chicagoans to wear our city proudly, regardless of the challenges we face as a city. While much changed for all of us in the past two years, these icons have remained enduring sources of inspiration.
Since creating my RBG portrait in 2020, my works in contemporary portraiture have evolved to more expressive brushstrokes and knife work. The whimsical tone in this series is designed to pull people closer and to engage – not only with this installation – but again with the iconic landmarks themselves.
What were the steps in moving it from concept to reality?
Pinstripes offered me the opportunity to use their River East location, the 4th oldest building in Chicago, to make a positive statement about Chicago. I began sketching ideas around how the city’s icons could integrate with people in imaginative ways – and it struck me that the Centennial Ferris wheel could be juxtaposed as a hat and I immediately pictured a woman wearing the wheel stylishly and proudly. I realized the idea could easily extend with other Chicago icons like Cloud Gate (the Bean), the Buckingham Fountain -and likely others in the future.
In the end, the series featured three portraits of fictitious Chicagoans- each wearing an iconic landmark as a badge of pride. I created two additional portraits in the series of people wearing bowling pins and bocce balls as hats and accessories in honor of Pinstripes having sponsored the city-themed message and concept I had proposed.
I began painting the initial portrait in May of 2021, and over a period of several months, I completed 4 additional portraits – each sized at 16”x20”, oil on board. Once the full series was in-hand, I had each scanned on a specialty flatbed scanner in Chicago.
Next was the challenge of planning the installation. Through a contact I discovered ER2, who proved to be an outstanding partner in converting the rich details and textures within the paintings up to the massive 16-ft scale. Affixing the material to the windows and mullions was no small challenge and I’m thrilled with the end result of the installation itself.
Are bold brushstrokes important for the look you are trying to achieve?
This technique is absolutely an intentional application I’ve developed using a combination of palette knives and brushwork. The layers include colors meant to achieve harmony and the speed of the knife work is similar to a sculpting process.
For more information visit the Paul Brourman and the Pinstripes websites
IMAGES COURTESY OF Paul Brourman
About the Author: Nomin Altansukh
Nomin Altansukh moved to the U.S.A. at the age of nine from Mongolia. For the first two years she couldn't speak English, heavily relying on visual cues to understand what others were trying to communicate. During this time she developed an appreciation and greater desire to study non-verbal communication. Nomin enjoys several forms of art that predominantly use visual rhetoric in its narrative -- paintings, sculptures, film, and theater.
In her free time, Nomin is painting landscapes or watching her favorite hockey team, the Chicago Blackhawks.
