Street art: Jim Bachor's pothole mosaics
Chicago artist Jim Bachor is on a mission: patching up his city’s broken pavement by filling potholes with colorful works of art -- mosaics that turn eyesores and traffic hazards into things of beauty. And with his mosaics now being laid in other cities, Bachor is taking his artwork on the road.
Single Scoop Ice Cream Cone
A former ad agency creative director, Bachor is an artist whose interest in mosaic tiles was inspired by trips to Pompeii, where vivid examples of the art form have survived for millennia.
Pothole
2013, Bachor said, was a particularly bad pothole season in Chicago; his own street was riddled with them. “Crews come by and do this temporary fix, but they never seemed to stay fixed,” he told CBS News’ Lee Cowan. “And there was a pothole in front of our house. So it just dawned on me. I have this passion for this durable art form, and I have this pothole that needs a more permanent fix. So I went out one night in May of 2013 and installed that first piece.”
He did so under cover of darkness. “Yeah, well, I’m too old to be arrested!” he laughed. “And I didn’t know if this was against the law or whatever. My next-door neighbor was my lookout: ‘Let me know if the cops come by or something.’ And so I just installed it. Took a couple hours. And that’s how it all started.”
Strawberry Ice Cream Sandwich
Word began to spread of Bachor’s vigilante street repairs, with TV and newspapers covering the mosaics. And while the city didn’t officially communicate with Bachor about the appropriateness or legality of his art installations, a city spokesman told the Chicago Tribune in 2014 that, while Chicago appreciated the spirit of Bachor’s campaign, he should leave the work of filling potholes to the professionals, and left it at that.
Bachor told Cowan, “That was it. They didn’t say no, so here we are!”
Push Up
A popsicle.
Morning Glories
“Everybody hates potholes - doesn’t matter who you are, young, old, rich, poor. Everyone hates ‘em. So you’re walking down the street and you expect it’s a nasty asphalt street that’s pockmarked and whatnot. And then you might happen to see tulips, maybe, where there shouldn’t be. And so it’s just that little bit of unexpected joy, which is kind of a fun thing for me.
Mosaic
Bachor says, unlike his fine art, he keeps the mosaics pretty simple: “The pothole stuff, I can’t spend a tremendous amount of time on, because I can’t sell it, ‘cause it’s stuck in the ground. So I try to keep ‘em to, maybe, eight hours, ten tops.”
On The Prowl
Bachor typically notes potential pothole candidates as he drives around the city. “They’re everywhere,” he told CBS News’ Lee Cowan. “So whether it’s taking the boys to school or baseball games or running errands, I’m always on the lookout going, ‘Oh, that’s a good one,’ maybe I’ll quickly write down the intersection.”
Flower
When looking for prospective potholes, Bachor searches for isolated, “rogue” potholes, as a street filled with potholes will likely be earmarked for repaving sooner rather than later.
Installation
“I think people are watching me, but they really aren’t. You know, I just do my thing. I’ve got my cones and the orange vest and whatnot. And people just think I’m a city worker working too hard on one particular pothole!”
Cheetos
This one is part of a series of mosaics called “Pretty Trashed,” inspired by a snack from one of his sons’ baseball games.
“It’s a nasty pothole. And now there’s a rendering of something also unattractive, being trash, but rendering it beautifully, a little piece of art.”
Bombpop
In the two years since he began his pothole installations, he estimates 40 to 50 percent of them have already been paved over. “I don’t usually go back and revisit [them]. Once they’re done and I photograph them, I’m good with it. But my Instagram followers let me know. I got a post two days ago saying, ‘Guess what? Bomb Pop got paved over!’ So that’s how I get the news.”
Cowan asked, “What happens when you hear that news, that all this artwork is now sitting under black asphalt?”
“Well, it used to bum me out at first. But it’s the price I pay for playing in the street, you know?” he laughed. “As the campaign’s evolved, I have really found that it’s documenting them as soon as they’re done. I take a ton of photographs once they’re done, because that’s as good as it’s gonna look. And then whatever happens happens.”
Banana Peel
Don’t slip!
Ice Cream Sandwich
From Bachor’s “Treats in the Streets” series.
Strawberry Shortcake
From Bachor’s “Treats in the Streets” series.
"Fish Equals"
“My art tends to be roughly 18” by 24”. You know, they can’t be too deep, they can’t be too shallow. They need to be deep enough for the concrete to catch the art. And they can’t be in the center of the road, obviously. So there’s a lot of conditions.
“People send me photos, the Instagram followers: ‘What about this [pothole]?’ You know, I mean, it’s a good one, but it’s got issues.”
Detroit
Bachor has installed mosaics in other cities’ potholes, including in Detroit. And while they do not always survive long, some have been preserved by Google’s Street View cameras.
He also traveled to Finland, where he was invited by a museum in Jyväskylä to install mosaics in potholes that they specially dug into the street to Bachor’s specifications.
"Tree Equals"
From his “Taso Arvo” series.
Twin Lime Popsicles
From Bachor’s “Treats in the Streets” series.
Crunch
From Bachor’s “Pretty Trashed” series.
Tulips
“What sometimes happens is the asphalt around the perimeter starts to fail. And if that fails, then everything is up in the air. I get a note from this Instagram guy saying, ‘Hey, not sure if you’re aware, but the tulip piece just kind of popped outta the ground. I took it home. Do you want it?’ With all the concrete, probably weighs 30 or 40 pounds! I’m like, well, that’s cool. Dedication!
“He wanted to know if I wanted it back, and I had to think for a second. And I’m like, ‘Well, I certainly don’t want you to throw it away.’ So I stopped by a couple of weeks later, gave him a pothole T-shirt and whatnot. And so now I have this original piece of pothole art that I have to figure out what I’m gonna do with. Probably frame it!”
Strawberry Ice Cream Sandwich
From Bachor’s “Treats in the Streets” series.
Angry Birds
From his “Taso Arvo” series.
Mosaic
A street in San Antonio.
Soft Serve Ice Cream
From Bachor’s “Treats in the Streets” series.
Make Your Mark
“This is a canvas that you’re never gonna run out of, right?” asked Lee Cowan.
“Yeah,” replied Jim Bachor. “Not in this lifetime!”
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By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan