News — Bachor

Leading up to our big 2-year anniversary show, we're going to share bios on each of the participating artists with a preview of one of their works for the show.

Today we feature Bachor: A graduate of the Center for Creative Studies in downtown Detroit, former Michigander Jim Bachor has lived in Chicago now for 27 years.

Bachor’s fervor for mosaic art was born in 1998 when he first traveled to Europe and enveloped himself in the culture of London, Rome and Paris. Then for two months in 1999, Jim rented a house in Rome, exploring the ancient sites of the city and surrounding countryside. Inspired to learn more about his newly found infatuation, later that same year Jim went back to Italy and took classes in Ravenna on the demanding and meticulous art form. During subsequent archaeology-based trips to Greece, Turkey and even a dig in Pompeii, he was amazed by the various examples of 2,000 year-old art buried deep in the ground. Marble and glass don't fade so mosaics look exactly as intended by the artist who originally produced them. Jim has adapted this ancient art form to contemporary American life, capturing everyday scenes in a way that, centuries from now, will open a window onto life in the 21st century.

Beginning in May 2013, Jim began to apply this thinking to the numerous potholes filling the streets of Chicago. Temporarily fixed over and over again by city street crews he began to apply this resilient artwork as a more permanent fix. Early concepts of the artwork first installed branded the pothole as an authentic Chicago-style pothole. Further explorations played with serial numbers (to represent the vast quantities of them), phone numbers of nearby auto repair shops (to repair damage caused by them) and even flowers (as a pretty juxtaposition to the universally ugly pothole.) He is continuing the project again this year.