“An ancient mosaic looks exactly as intended by the artist who produced it over two millennia ago. What else can claim that kind of staying power? I find this idea simply amazing,” says street artist Jim Bachor. Bachor’s current series “Treats in the Streets” fills potholes in his home town of Chicago with playful mosaics of icecream and popsicles. Using the same materials as ancient craftsmen, they are made with thousands of colorful pieces of glass and marble set in mortar which protects each piece. The icecreams are part of an ongoing project where the artist takes pothole suggestions from his fans online, and then fills them with images of things like fish, candy, cereal, french fries, and words like “pothole.” At his website, Bachor keeps a street map for anyone who wants to visit his art. To him, it represent things in his every day life, something mosaics served to document throughout art history. His works not only help improve his city’s streets by filling dangerous potholes, but through the element of surprise, they also make us look twice to appreciate our surroundings.
The “Before”
