Molten mural
For exterior of West Loop foundry, Florida artist painted fierce, fiery gator
That giant alligator painted on a wall at 1523 W. Hubbard St. this summer seems to almost smolder with its searing oranges and reds, as if it just emerged from a flaming cauldron.
That’s by design, says the artist, Christian Stanley, given the location — at Universal Electric Foundry, which melts metal and pours it “into molds to make parts for many special uses.”
“We always research the area or building and look for ways to tie in meaning when possible,” says Stanley, 35, who did the mural in August. “The foundry had some pictures online with beautiful glowing metal, and we tried to incorporate some of that heat and glow to the mural as well.”
Why a gator?
“We wanted to bring some Florida to Chicago,” says Stanley, who lives in Orlando.
He says he nicknamed his creature “Chance” and gave the same name to the piece because, while he was painting it, he kept hearing about Chance the Snapper — the gator that was caught in a Humboldt Park lagoon and named for Chicago’s Chance the Rapper.
Stanley says his wife, Jessica Stanley, helped with painting the mural, which is 52 feet across and 22 feet high, took five days to finish and was done as part of Chicago’s Titan Walls arts festival.
It’s steps away from two other murals done on West Hubbard Street in 2020 for the same festival.
One of them, featuring a seemingly magical blue figure, was done by Milwaukee artist David Zimmerman, who goes by Bigshot Robot.
Zimmerman describes the “West Loop Wizard” character as a “wizard summoning a portal. Where to? That’s up to you.”
The other mural done then was by the Chicago artist who goes by Elloo. It features a giant dog, a donut and a rainbow.
“I wanted to paint a happy, light-hearted and joyful mural,” says Elloo, who based the dog on “my beautiful chihuahua Frida — always teaching me unconditional love and how to be happy.”