Uplifting Frankie Knuckles
Sky high on a steady beat.
A resplendent mural honoring Chicago house legend Frankie Knuckles was completed late last night atop a building that houses a European clothing store on 2958 W. Fullerton at Sacramento Ave.
Passengers on the El’s Blue Line can see a detailed portrait of the smiling DJ who died March 31 at age 59. It sure beats the picture of “Chicagoan” Chuck Berry who greets passengers of the El at Midway airport.
The Knuckles mural is between 30 and 40 feet long. The work of art was completed coincidentally in time for tonight’s Frankie Knuckles Tribute and dance party at Millennium Park. Mike Winston, Knuckles’ original opening DJ at the Power Plant will deliver an 8:15 p.m. set.
“I knew this had to be done,” Chicago born DJ/producer/graffiti artist Mike Tupak said in a Tuesday afternoon conversation on the hot rubber roof. “It was a matter of getting the right people together–and getting the wall, which was the most important thing. We actually had another wall lined up on Milwaukee across the street from the Congress (theater) and two days before we were supposed to start they pulled the plug on us, saying corporate was going to do advertisement.”
Chicago artist B-Boy-B obtained permission from the building’s landlord to use the wall, which faces downtown. The entire wall was done in spray paint.
Besides Tupak and B-Boy B, the collective included Skol, (Rahmaan) Statik, Mugs, Flash and Des. They started the work on May 30. “With this blazing sun killing us all day,” said Tupak, who lives in Jefferson Park. “Statik came Saturday night to do the portrait. We worked all day Sunday and put the finishing touches on it Monday.”
It took between 18 and 20 hours to finish the mural. The artists were not paid. The group paid for the paint and supplies out of their own pocket.
The collective did not listen to much music while they worked.
“It was strange,” said Tupak, 31. “Normally the train is running but due to the Blue line work on the weekend it was closed. It was the most eerie feeling for a graffiti writer who comes at night and creeps around on these kinds of roofs. You’re used to that train passing by. We had a little bit of music (hip-hop, house salsa), but we had no power so it was not like we plugged in a radio or anything.
“But we all had Frankie’s beat in our head.”
Tupak never met Knuckles but he did attend Knuckles January 12, 2013 birthday party at the Smart Bar. “That’s when I knew I wanted to play house music as a DJ,” Tupak said. “There was something in the room that night. I’ve been doing hip hop and house for a long time, but I learned that night what to focus on.”
Tupak is a member of Chicago Mural Works, the 14-year-old group who did the fireman’s mural at Addison and Lincoln and the Chicago mural off the Kennedy expressway near Ohio.
I could see the group doing other iconic music rooftops along the El.
Chicago artist-DJ Mike Tupak
Tupak looked at the Knuckles mural and then the El tracks.
He said, “If you’ve never been to Chicago what you see on these train lines is going to be your first memory of the city. I think when people who know Frankie and Chicago house music are going to relate to this. We did this for our love of Frankie and the city.
“This is something the city needed.”
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