During a recent visit to Parson’s Chicken & Fish, I noticed a funky Camaro outside with a cool design painted on the door (a chicken leg and fish skeleton crossed over each other). After a bit of research, I found out the artist behind the work was Ryan Duggan—the same one who was recently voted one of the best music gig poster artists by the Reader and who painted the mural at the California Blue Line el stop.
Duggan, it can definitely be said, is having a moment in Chicago. In fact, when I caught up with him the other day, he was on his second-to-last day at his 9-to-5 design job and was making the leap to full-time artist. The majority of his work is still screen-printing (he got his start making posters for the band Maps & Atlases) but he also does more artistic painting on his own.
His work is for sale at Galerie F in Logan Square (2381 N. Milwaukee Ave.) and he’s planning his first solo show, which will be the first Friday of September at Johalla Projects gallery (1821 W. Hubbard, Suite 209).