Chicago, IL—Paramount Lodging Advisors (PLA) has partnered with Chicago local artist, Eric Lee to create an expansive mural for the firm’s headquarters located in Old Town.
The piece titled Caution: Bridge Out is described as a trompe l’oeil encounter between Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner. Lee utilized the three-story building to create a three-dimensional story of the infamous foes, Wile E. Coyote, and Roadrunner – transporting the onlookers into the story; in the desert itself with the vibrant use of color, shading, light and space.
“After being in the hospitality business for almost two decades with our companies, Atira Hotels and Paramount Lodging Advisors, we have constantly focused on ‘people and service’ as the most important aspect of everything we do. The idea for the mural was an extension of this focus. Our businesses not only serve hotel guests (Atira) and hotel investors (Paramount) but the communities that we live and work in. The mural idea was a fun and playful way to give back to our community. We wanted to make people not just see an office building every day, but a piece of art that makes them pause. We wanted to evoke curiosity, nostalgia, community pride and most importantly, very large smiles”, explained CEO and Founder of Paramount and Atira Hotels, Sanjeev Misra.
When asked about his process, Eric Lee had this to say, “The process is to figure out a scene that tells a story, works with the architecture of the building, and excites both the client and me. For this mural, it took approximately 5 months of back and forth looking at mockups to figure out the right idea with which to move forward. Once the idea is locked in, I need to calculate the paint and figure out what kind of lift to use based on the terrain and the height of the wall.”
Ultimately, Misra and Lee decided on the Wile E. Coyote/Roadrunner concept. “Wile E. Coyote is one of my favorite characters of all time. His creative attempts to go after what he wants is inspiring despite his failures. I like capturing the scene when he has created his trap and it looks as though everything may just work out this time. The audience knows the inevitable outcome, but having that moment frozen in time still holds optimism,” explained Lee.
Painting the piece took approximately 11 days to complete. Lee utilized outdoor masonry paint as a base and spray paint on top of this to create highlights and shadows. To finish, he used a clear coat to protect the piece from tags and UV rays from breaking it down prematurely. The mural can be viewed on PLA’s building located at 1290 N Clybourn Ave.
