Chicago murals: Andersonville utility box art plays the week like a game
When Gabi Bozeman was asked to paint the seven utility boxes located over six blocks of Clark Street in Andersonville, she knew she needed a theme.
“Immediately I was like, what goes with seven? How do I tie all of these together? That’s the most important thing when you do a project that’s going to span the neighborhood,” Bozeman says.
Her answer: days of the week. People relate to the different vibes of different days, Bozeman says. So she took that, added a 1990s video game spin, and she had her theme.
“I feel like every week I’m starting a new game,” Bozeman says.
Monday, for example, is blue with a “start” button, pixilated clocks, clouds and coffee. Wednesday is pink and features a camel and the words “hump day” and “Round 3.” Friday is bright orange-red and reads “Fryday Burger Build” and mentions how a gamer can add fries.
All the brightly painted boxes include a portrait of a person wearing glasses and assorted moods, depending on the day.
When pedestrians start at the 5600 block of Clark Street at the Monday box facing West Olive Avenue in Andersonville and head south to the 5000 block of Clark Street, “they can enjoy a nice walk in the neighborhood and find those nice moments as they go,” Bozeman says. Hopefully it perks them up during a gloomy Chicago winter.
Bozeman began painting in 2024, she says, and mainly works with acrylic paint on canvas. Public art is a growing part of her portfolio. She painted each box by hand with brushes and acrylic paint, she says.
Bozeman wants to "bring a free outdoor walkable art experience to people," she says. "At the end of the day, you shouldn’t always have to pay to see art.”
Charlie Wein, director of marketing and communications for the Andersonville Chamber of Commerce, says his group asked Bozeman to paint the boxes after she displayed her work as part of the Andersonville Arts Weekend in October.
There, she showed her portraits of people wearing glasses at Visionary Eye Care, which was a thematically appropriate venue for her work, Wein says. Two of her portraits remain in the shop’s windows.
“We have wanted to get something done with these electrical boxes for so long,” Wein says. So, “I sent her work to my boss and said, 'You should check this out.'”
As a gamer himself, Wein says, the theme resonated. He has been asked his favorite box “so many times, and it tends to change,” he says. But right now, it’s Sunday.
Along with one of Bozeman's portraits in blue, “the game she featured was Nintendogs,” Wein says, which he remembered playing decades ago. “You take care of a pet dog, and you pet them and feed them. It was the most cozy, no stress, no pressure game. And it made me feel like, take Sunday slow, relax, feel comfortable.
“She has a thank you note on the side that says ‘thank you for playing.’ It was the perfect end of the project.”