Under the El

by Gregg Chadwick

Gregg Chadwick

Under the El

30"x20" oil on linen 2012

Chicago is a city of pulse and rhythm.  The city itself is a song. It clangs and roars by day and whispers laments at night. 

Standing under the El on a hot August day, listening to the hum of traffic echoing off of steel, concrete and flesh inspired my first painting of 2012. Chicago seemed to soak up the light last summer, lending the streets a shimmering presence much like the wet Parisian boulevards in Gustave Caillebotte's Paris Street, Rainy Day. Caillebotte's masterpiece hangs in the Art Institute of Chicago, just blocks from the El.  Standing in front of the painting last summer, after coming in from the heat, I felt my heart beating -providing an audible rhythm to Caillebotte's figures stilled in the silent air.

Gustave Caillebotte Paris Street, Rainy Day (Detail) 83.5"x108.75" oil on canvas 1876-77 The Art Institute of Chicago photo by Gregg Chadwick Gustave Caillebotte Paris Street, Rainy Day 83.5"x108.75" oil on canvas 1876-77 The Art Institute of Chicago photo by Gregg Chadwick