Art is a Catalyst for Communities
It's been known for centuries…millennia even. People have been irresistibly drawn to human expression and all art forms. We are touched by the universality of it, and the enjoyment it provides. The arts speak to people across race, gender and socioeconomic status.
Forward-looking real estate developers have often used art to help define the experience and culture at a property or in a neighborhood. The art comes as decor in lobbies or hallways and shared spaces. Sometimes it comes as public art, plaza statuary or murals. Whatever form it takes, it’s helping activate the community in and around the property.
At 800 Fulton, Thor Equities, in partnership with the Cushman & Wakefield leasing team and Torque, has brought bright, playful and panoramic art to the fast-developing construction of the building. Torque worked with Ava Grey design to define a mural program that now sprawls and blooms out across the barricades on the eastern edge of the construction site. The brilliant artistic mind behind the images and paint is Caesar Perez/Czr Prz.
Huge plywood panels covered in gestural birds and explosions of abstract cool span 140 ft of the block. The overhead canopy and cement barricade are also covered in original artwork, all dancing alongside Halsted street traffic. The mural took just under 2 months to complete — Caesar has been working tirelessly in a studio called Mana Contemporary in Pilsen.
Torque has been documenting the conceptual sketches, the painting of the panels and canvas and the final installation, putting it all on social media to help raise awareness of the art. The response has been resounding, and the final affect is stunning.
Come to 800 Fulton Market and see a visual statement and creative expression true to the neighborhood.
