Montrose

Windy City Odyssey
Chris Cosnowski
Art glass
2020, Arts in Transit

Windy City Odyssey offers CTA riders a whimsical visual journey through various aspects of Chicago’s storied history, character, and cultural significance. Chicago artist Chris Cosnowski renders the toys and trophies of yesteryears childhood with symbolic photorealism. These playful motifs attempt to transport riders into a momentary reverie from their daily routine.

Artwork motifs

(In order of appearance in art glass panels, left to right, top to bottom)

Bodybuilder trophy – Chicago is known as “The city of Big Shoulders”
Tyrannosaurus Rex skull – The Field Museum
Three Little Pigs – The Chicago Stockyards; and the idea of building a strong home.
Blue knight chess piece – The Chess records logo, the original Chicago blues label.
Bozo the Clown – WGN had the longest running Bozo show from 1960-2001
Tugboat – Our hard-working city located on Lake Michigan and the Chicago River.
Cow – Mrs. O'Leary's cow (note the bell) and The Great Chicago Fire.
Running trophies – The Chicago Marathon; also conveys the energy of our busy city.
Penny – The State of Illinois’ greatest political figure, President Abraham Lincoln.
Ballet dancer – Joffrey Ballet
Fish – The Shedd Aquarium
Plastic blue M – Montrose Blue Line station
Astronaut figure – Museum of Science and Industry, whose collection includes an original Apollo 8 space suit.
Purple lion – The Art Institute of Chicago
Airplanes – represent Chicago’s O'Hare International Airport.
Red lips – Three iconic neon landmarks advertising Magikist (early 1960s through late 1980s; a former rug cleaning company) adorned several major Chicago highways. Towering 80 feet above the Kennedy Expressway, just to the east of this station, this last pair was razed in late 2003.