BIRD’S-EYE VIEWS
Artist’s up-close experiences with birds of prey inspire murals he hopes will promote environmental conservation
New York muralist Justin Suarez’s birds of prey-centered murals have found a nest in Chicago. His most recent piece, under the train tracks at Chicago Avenue and Lessing Street in River West, features a great horned owl set in front of a stormy backdrop.
“Being that I’m primarily painting animals, which in our area of the world are typically neutral tones . . . just any way of contrasting those colors with the brightest colors possible is really fun for me,” says Suarez, who completed the mural this past summer.
The entire piece — from the bird’s detailed feathers to the strings of lightning over its head — were done in spray paint. Suarez got his start as an artist in graffiti.
“I like to say that I started painting on things that didn’t belong to me when I was 17,” he says.
Suarez’s Chicago murals were organized by Sara Dulkin of Chicago Truborn. The West Town gallery is a woman-owned-andrun space that focuses on street and graffiti artists.
Suarez’s “hyper-realist animal portraiture is absolutely outstanding and really sets him apart from the crowd,” Dulkin says.
The retaining wall canvas was previously home to another mural Suarez did in collaboration with Chicago Truborn. Its weathering meant it was time for something new, so the stormy action shot has replaced a pair of screech owls with a lighter nature.
“I wanted to mix it up because that wall was very sweet and cute . . . it was sort of the idea that this was a pair of mated owls together,” Suarez says.
The details of the giant flying creatures come from Suarez’s own up-close experiences. Over a decade ago, when Suarez made the leap into becoming a full-time muralist, he also started volunteering at a bird-of-prey sanctuary.
“Being able to work with birds of prey up close, having them sit on the leather glove, it really was huge educational point for me in an artistic sense,” Suarez says. “[It] allowed me to really learn about their anatomy, and what makes each species really that species.”
Not far from the owl painting is a nearly three-story tall peregrine falcon portrait Suarez completed in 2019.
The massive creature, Chicago’s official bird, appears to land on the side of an apartment building at 1708 W. Chicago Ave. The hundreds of detailed feathers, painted in hues of blue, brown and gray, make the bird come alive on the brick wall.
“I’m kind of obsessive about painting every single feather,” Suarez says. Being “able to work with these animals up close” means “I’ve really been able to analyze their feather structure and the way that it follows contours of their bodies.”
His work at Wild Wings Inc. in New York, the bird sanctuary, made Suarez “passionate about using my artwork as a vehicle to promote environmental conservation and stewardship,” leading him to Chicago’s own efforts.
The mural was inspired by, and done with
the help of, the Field Museum’s Chicago Peregrine Program.
The program oversees the once-endangered bird’s population to “help them thrive throughout Chicago and the greater Midwest,” according to the Field Museum.
Mary Hennen, director of the program, talked over the bird’s details with Suarez — down to the distinctive tooth in its bill.
The mural is a great representation of the peregrine’s history, Hennen says. Originally the bird was a cliff dweller, but here it has adapted to make the city’s highrises its “psuedo-cliff.”
As Hennen continues her work protecting Chicago’s official bird — currently monitoring nests as courting begins — she hopes Suarez’s mural inspires others to learn more about the bird she loves.
“If it creates an awareness of wildlife, and you learn the background story, and you can foster that desire to preserve and protect wildlife, wow, you couldn’t ask for anything better than that,” Hennen says.