The HEY Cover Art gallery

Liz Flores

Liz Flores is a Mexican-Cuban-American painter and muralist based in Chicago, IL. Her work studies the human condition, female form and how movement and shape can be used as a mode of visual storytelling. She explores themes around womanhood, belonging and inner life.

MelónJames

You might say it’s in Melón’s nature to share his art. He went from the edges of the law in Chicago to painting murals commissioned by the city itself. After growing up in his hometown of Chicago, Melón moved to Hawai‘i in 2001, where he embedded himself in the local graffiti and urban art scene. Painting the streets of Hawaii, Chicago, Japan and more with lavish striking blues and turquoise, bold pinks and rich greens, Melón’s unique style is inspired by his surroundings. Scrawling rooftops and running freeways is a dangerous way for a graffiti writer to get noticed. Melón didn’t mind; he liked to climb. He used to hop on the trains moving through his old Chicago neighborhood of Humboldt Park, seeing more of the city beyond his block and drawing inspiration from other artists he met. Searching for something, adventure, maybe. Melón credits graffiti writing with saving him from gang life. “I truly enjoy the graffiti process,” says Melón. “I especially love letters. I feel like a modern day typographer — I have to analyze a word, break it down and make each letter balance so the word as a whole makes visual sense.” As he delves further into fine art, Melón draws inspiration from his relationships, both brief and proven with time. One of his favorite murals is in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood, is titled Fullhearted—Share Your Love. The lithe figures seem to move both toward and away from each other, intertwined with hearts and ribbons of color. Large, expressive strokes from the spray can trace the walls like a hurried teenager tagging in the night. Painted with only a suggestion of a face, the figures are left open to the viewer’s interpretation. or Melón, it’s also about creating an open-ended story. “Once you put a face on something, it makes it harder to relate to the subject.” Deliberately, Melón declares “My work isn’t just about me; it’s a reflection of everyone around me.”

Shawnimals

Chicago-based Shawn Smith is best known as the artist and designer behind Shawnimals and Ninjatown. While often known for his work in designer toys — particularly plush — he is primarily focused on fine art, and creates a wide variety of colorful, playful, and symbolic illustrative art works in the form of drawings, paintings, and murals. Simply put, he wants to delight and inspire people everywhere with his character-based creative work. His “All Shapes” body of work explores ideas of friendship, community, diversity, inclusivity, and celebration. While squarely rooted in the world of art with color, shape, and composition, there’s also the implication of a wide range of not only shapes and colors, but also emotions and allusions to memory. We are all of these things and many more, and these differences should be celebrated and supported to build a true sense of community. You can see his work in and around Chicago, other parts of the US, and as far away as Tokyo.

Mario Desa

Chicago based tattooer in the traditional style since 1997.

Nate Otto

Nate Otto is a Chicago based artist and muralist. His work navigates its own lane somewhere between fine art, street art, and folk art. He has done many murals and shown his work all over the world.

Jennifer Syfu Chornenky

These are the Strange Foos. Do not be scared of them. They have no interest in world domination or monopolizing the marshmallow production industry. They just want to be left in peace — collecting motivational posters and growing their famous organic arugula. If they creep you out it’s because they were born that way. Jennifer Syfu Chornenky is a toymaker living in Arizona. You can find her work in boutiques in Arizona, Texas and Michigan.

Anthony Lewellen

Anthony Lewellen is a Chicago based artist and muralist. In his formative years he was an innovative figure within Chicago’s graffiti culture where early on he made a name for himself in the Midwest and beyond hallmarked by street work that featured a simple bold palette and emotionally complex characters born out of direct observation and digestion of life in the city. His work has come to include a growing body of large-scale public murals along with numerous private commissions. Prolific in the studio as well his work is always building upon a personalized visual language rooted in a love of drawing and exploration that continues to evolve and grow over the years often merging representational, figurative and abstract elements. The images he creates often evoke unspoken narratives written in the urban landscape. He continues to live and work on the North West side of Chicago.

Lauren Asta

Widely seen throughout Chicago neighborhoods and beyond, Lauren Asta’s public artwork is designed to visually stimulate and inspire an audience through her cast of characters doing what they do best—being humorous about the human experience. Her murals are created without a preliminary sketch, but are fluidly painted free-hand to fit the space organically.