Courtesy of Jim Bachor
Courtesy of Jim Bachor
Courtesy of Jim Bachor
Courtesy of Jim Bachor
Courtesy of Jim Bachor
Courtesy of Jim Bachor
Courtesy of Jim Bachor
Courtesy of Jim Bachor
Chicago has an outbreak of potholes pockmarking its roads – a disease one resident has found a sweet way to treat.
Artist Jim Bachor patches about 20 of them a year with miniature mosaics of ice creams.
He started tackling potholes in his home city in 2013 after learning glass and marble mosaic techniques in Italy. Though the concept grew slowly out of his fondness for European antiquity, the pothole mosaics alternate between witty text and joyous imagery – a vestige of years spent in advertising.
Bachor’s latest series of ‘pot art’, Treats in the Streets, juxtaposes a universal hatred of potholes with (near) universal love for ice cream sandwiches and popsicles.
He tries to work on streets that are in pretty good shape to stretch the life expectancy of his creations. ‘I had a couple that only lasted a month. Others have been around more than a year. The mosaics themselves are very strong, but the asphalt around them keeps crumbling.’
People are lining up to help. A $1,000 Kickstarter to fund a new season has over $11,500 pledged with two weeks remaining.
With some 20,000 potholes reported in the city last year, Bachor has got his work cut out.
