Chicago muralist Thomas Melvin pays homage to pioneering Chicago architect Louis Sullivan in two murals he created for a development at Fulton Market.

Sullivan is renowned for his work in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, designing buildings such as the Auditorium Theater, 50 E. Ida B. Wells Dr. and the former Carson Pirie Scott Department Store building in 9 E. Madison St., now known as the Sullivan Center.

In one of Melvin’s two untitled murals, at 205 N. Peoria St. next to the Fulton East building, he offers a glimpse of the Chicago skyline through an eye-shaped lens. Melvin says it was inspired by the Sullivan Center and the goal was to make it seem like you saw the city through the eyes of the famous architect.

The design incorporates greenery, paying homage to nature and, according to Melvin, giving another nod to Sullivan, whose work often relied on the connection between architecture and growth.

“He had a great sense of proportion,” says Melvin. “It can be attributed to organic, vegetal and geological forms, which are the building blocks of our world. Painters also recognize it in the way they compose their paintings.

Melvin, 69, who lives in Albany Park, has made another new mural nearby. It features larger than life ivy vines that appear to crawl on the west side of the building at 220 N. Green St.

Both murals, painted in 2020, were commissioned by Bob Wislow, president and CEO of Parkside Realty, who developed the 12-story Fulton East building, 215 N. Peoria St.

“We built the building around health and wellness thinking long before the pandemic,” says Wislow, “on the principles of biophilic design – bringing the outdoors indoors. So we thought, “Let’s do something that helps do more. “

Melvin got his start as a sign painter. He says he takes inspiration from early American folk art and painted backdrops that were often used in early photographs.

“I became drawn to everyone’s decorative attempts,” says Melvin. “These are my original inspirations. Some of these things were very naive and self-taught, and I like the spirit of that.

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Melvin draws part of his technique from what he learned from Richard Haas, a muralist specializing in the optical illusion style which aims to “fool the eye” by making an object appear in three dimensions.

Melvin, who grew up in New York City, says he started doing more painterly work in the 1980s, working with developers to create canvases in his Albany Park studio for malls and food courts. Across the country.

Throughout his 40-plus-year career, Melvin says he’s seen public art become more political, but says it’s not his style.

“For my part, I have never been involved in it as a political movement,” he says. “I got much more involved in it for the architectural, decorative and graphic aspects of it, the addition it could make to the livability of our world and, dare I say, to the beauty of certain structures. .

Click on the map below for a selection of Chicago area murals