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joeengleman.bsky.social
@joeengleman.bsky.social
260 followers 310 following 290 posts
Chicago writer & urban planner. Clips in the Chicago Reader, South Side Weekly, Barn Raiser, Dwell, Floodlight, Mother Jones, + more.
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joeengleman.bsky.social
Tony Fitzpatrick
A Communion of Waxwings, 2019
Division/Milwaukee Blue Line Station
Tony Fitzpatrick's A Communion of Waxwings, 2019 It depicts two yellow waxwing birds in song -- with comic speech bubbles filled with musical notation. Surrounding them is a light green background, filled with the kaleidoscopic wheels, crossword puzzle squares, a horse and cow, juniper berries, and a tree branch that's almost Chicago street sign green. At the bottom is the text CEDAR WAXWINGS. A black placard with white text accompanying Tony Fitzpatrick's painting, A Communion of Waxwings, at the Division Street station, set against white and blue tile. The text reads: CTA ARTS IN TRANSIT PROGRAM Tony Fitzpatrick A Communion of Waxwings, 2019 Gouache, watercolor ink, colored pencil, and assorted paper ephemera Waxwings are a bird species once can find in Chicago and surrounding suburbs wherever there are berries — the little red Juniper Berries are what they love. They also get hammered on them and feed them to their mates as part of the mating ritual. They are a particularly gorgeous American Bird that always puts me in the mind of autumn. I made this piece for The Birding Association — who named Cedar Waxwings their 2020 “Bird of the year”. You can find these Birds in Rosehill Cemetery, LaBagh Woods, and all over Northern Illinois. They are especially seeable during Migration, in late spring and early fall. I wanted to add human elements to remind the viewer that we are part of a large and complex eco-system in Chicago; that the minute we walk out our front-door, we are stepping into nature. transitchicago.com/art tonyfitzpatrick.com
October 12, 2025 at 5:02 PM
joeengleman.bsky.social
Tony Fitzpatrick
A Songbird for Nelson Algren, 2012
Division/Milwaukee Blue Line Station
Tony Fitzpatrick's painting A Songbird for Nelson Algren, 2012. It consists of a bird, filled with a patter along the lines of playing cards, swooping down with its bird perched just above "CHICAGO AVE." It's set against a white background and is dotted with matchbooks, card suite icons like clubs and spades, dice, two women -- one with her head facing the viewer and another with her hand on her head and back turned, a delivery truck, and a train. The painting is encased in a stainless steel case and it forms an additional border for the painting in the photograph. A black placard with white text set against blue tile. It reads: CTA ARTS IN TRANSIT PROGRAM Tony Fitzpatrick A Songbird for Nelson Algren, 2012 Watercolor, Gouache, ink, and paper ephemera. “A Songbird for Nelson Algren”, 2012 – I made this piece as an homage to the great Chicago writer because I’d been living in his neighborhood — and I felt there was still a whiff of him to be found — especially on Chicago Avenue, that most American of streets. When I would walk down the street with my eyes closed and hear five different languages: Polish, Ukrainian, Spanish, and Czech, as well as a smattering of Greek and Italian, I was inspired to make this work from scraps I found in the neighborhood — matchbooks, cigar rings, wrapper — I drew the image of the bird fashioned like a playing card to reflect Algren’s fondness for playing poker (badly). I think of Nelson Algren as the champion of the “People who live behind the billboards” to use his own words. – Tony Fitzpatrick Tony Fitzpatrick is a Chicago-based artist best known for his multimedia collages, printmaking, paintings, and drawings. Fitzpatrick’s work is inspired by Chicago street culture, cities he has traveled to, children’s books, tattoo designs, and folk art. Fitzpatrick has authored or illustrated eight books of art and poetry, and for the last two years has written a column, “Dime Stories”, for the Newcity publication. Fitzpatrick’s art appears in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, and the National Museum of American Art in Washington, DC. The Neville Brothers’ album Yellow Moon and the Steve Earle albums El Corazon and The Revolution Starts Now also feature Fitzpatrick’s art. In 1992, Fitzpatrick opened a Chicago-based printmaking studio, Big Cat Press. HE now operates a Gallery called “The Dime” and has since 2011. Before making a living as an artist, Fitzpatrick worked as a radio host, bartender, boxer, construction worker, and film and stage actor.
October 12, 2025 at 5:02 PM
joeengleman.bsky.social
My new low stakes conspiracy theory is that Warren Buffett wasn't planning to retire until he got asked this question about Portillo's
Excerpt from a Bloomberg live blog of the Q&A with Warren Buffett at the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting compiled by investing editor Jeremy Hill "8:54 AM Next question is a from a Chicago man about why Berkshire bought Portillo's, a hot dog chain. 9:00 AM Buffett says he doesn't know much about Portillo's. He pivots to an anecdote about Jay Pritzker -- a relative of Illinois governor JB Pritzker -- buying a Brooklyn chocolate company decades ago. Jay was a terrific manager, Buffett says. 9:00 AM Greg Abel clarifies that Berkshire Hathaway does not own Portillo's. It's owned by an investment firm with a similar name, he says."
May 4, 2025 at 7:31 PM
joeengleman.bsky.social
frederick wiseman 2025 deep dive
A Letterboxd listing of the movies I've seen so far in January 2025 with movie posters for each film. The vast majority of the movies are documentaries made by Frederick Wiseman. Jan 7 - City Hall (2020) Jan 6 - High School (1968) Jan 5 - Welfare (1975) - 5 Star rating Jan 4 - Rio Bravo (1959) Jan 3 - Primate (1974) and Juvenile Court (1973) Jan 2 - tick, tick... BOOM! (2021) and Welfare (1975) Jan 1 - Hospital (1970) and Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World (2023)
January 8, 2025 at 2:57 AM
joeengleman.bsky.social
An immortal post for a day that will live in infamy
An screenshot of a tweet captioned "Rowlet NO!!!" featuring an image of the owl-like Pokemon Rowlet participating in the January 6th insurrection where Donald Trump's supporters invaded the houses of Congress as part of an attempted coup d'état.
January 7, 2025 at 4:29 AM
joeengleman.bsky.social
The election post-mortems and 'what do we do now" pieces have been beating around the bush. What we need right now is pretty clear.
An well known meme of consisting of Mad Men's Don Draper doing a drunk advertising presentation. The meme has been captioned with the phrase "New Gritty" in all capital letters.
November 17, 2024 at 4:26 PM