Episodic

This large metal sculpture at the corner of Western and Grand is the 1996 "Episodic" by Josh Garber. It was installed in June, 2000 as a gift to the City of Chicago Public Art Collection from the West Loop Gate Community Organization. A green "City that Works" banner now flies from a light post near the sculpture identifying the area as the Kinzie Industrial Corridor. The neighborhood may have been renamed or reorganized at some point recently, though it doesn't seem to have done much good in terms of retaining lessees, as there are no fewer than four "available" signs for commercial properties within sight of the corner. There are plenty of street lights and traffic light standards at the intersection, which makes the material of the sculpture seem particularly fitting for this kind of location. It is made of reused sections of discarded metal light poles, welded together as a meandering scribble, or "pretzel" on a small island between the main part of Grand and a right turn lane leading to southbound Western Ave. This sculpture was part of a coordinated effort by the City of Chicago Public Art Department, under the directorship of Michael Lash, to use such "concrete triangle" spaces as artistic gateways between neighborhoods, or as "streetscape oas[e]s," in the words of the artist, according to a Sun-Times article the week of its installation. At the time, a local business owner suggested the sculpture should be painted brown with white spots to look even more like a pretzel. It was black at the time of its installation, but was painted light blue shortly afterwards, and with the excusable exception of a few patches of rust, it remains "City of Chicago, Richard M. Daley, Mayor Blue" to this day. The color, like the sculpture, is both institutional and industrial, but still almost cheery, especially on a bleak, cloudy day like today. It proclaims itself urban and tough, but with a slight smile and a wink to let you know it's only acting. Acting like a precise and smoothly running machine, acting like a supporting structure that gives light to the dark streets, acting like a line that is going somewhere, a path with an end. But there is no end, the line meanders but then completes itself, a circuitous entry marker to another neighborhood in the city that works.