Chicago-based artist/actor Tony Fitzpatrick has created a massive mural for the exterior of Steppenwolf Theatre Company's new Arts and Education Center, 1646 N. Halsted St.
Commissioned by Steppenwolf as a highly visible public-art installation for the southwest wall adjacent to the Center, "Night and Day in the Garden of All Other Ecstasies" is 12 feet high and 76 feet long—Fitzpatrick's largest work to date and his first outdoor mural.
The new work pays homage to the leadership of the company's former artistic director, Martha Lavey, highlighting the evolution of the company over its four decades and its future as it opens the doors of its new theater building and education center. Steppenwolf joins the ranks of institutions that are home to Fitzpatrick's art, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Museum of Modern Art (New York City); The Art Institute of Chicago and Old Town School of Folk Music; the Museum of Contemporary Art (Miami); and the National Museum of American Art (Washington, D.C.).
Fabricated on ceramic porcelain tiles, "Night and Day in the Garden of All Other Ecstasies" was designed by Fitzpatrick over the course of a year and then digitized by Danny Torres, his frequent collaborator (and partner in the new public-art initiative, Fitzpatrick/Torres Humboldt Caballo). The mural is composed of eight themed vertical panels, encompassing dozens of four-foot square tiles digitally printed in Bologna, Italy by the artisans of Imola Ceramica.
