To help meet Chicago’s growing demand for indoor pickleball courts, a new pickleball club, decorated by a mural wall created by more than a dozen of the city’s most prolific street artists, opened in November in the South Loop.
On the south-facing wall of ChiPickle, 1900 S. Wabash Ave., 10 whimsical creatures play pickleball or are pickles themselves. There are even pickles playing pickleball. Words written in graffiti-style lettering float above them.
The pickleball courts are in a building just west of South Michigan Avenue and east of Ping Tom Park.
The wall includes work by artists who go by the names of Peas, Milt, Kozmo, Matr, JoeyD, Verloe, Bird milk, Elloo, Gnome174, Diosa, Ren Rock, Disem CMK, Underseagravy and more. The group included members of CMK Crew, longtime friends who have been painting and tagging together for decades, largely on the South Side.
They came together again over several days this fall to brighten the wall at the request of owner Tony Chen.
“I had to research pickleball,” says artist Luis Molina, who worked with Chen on a previous project. “I had no idea what it was.”
He brought pizza and Modelos to share with other artists and called the experience “a whole picnic of people, painting and having fun.”
The mural images include Diosa’s purple vampire-like creature with a pickleball on one ear and red flames burning behind him. Kozmo’s cheeseburger-flower has an arm emerging from the top of the bun, ready to whack the ball, Milt’s pickle broke his racket and seems more interested in the salt, limes and bottle of Tajin-like seasoning he’s holding that reads “Milt Uno” on the label.
Bird Milk says he was “stoked to paint this wall” and to contribute a “fun, goofy little pickle character.”
“With the theme being pickleball, I naturally went with a giant, green sports-y pickle character holding up one of my little bird characters as well as a pickleball,” he says. “It’s fun to see my take on a pickle and other artists characters as well. There are so many different artists with different styles, so I enjoy getting to see a huge wall full of different creations. It gives you a lot to look at.”
Underseagravy isn’t part of the CMK Crew but says he paints with them often and enjoys working with and learning from them. He put a “black-and-white spin” on his pickle, and his creation has eyes bugging out as he holds a racket in one hand and a green pickleball in the other.
Chen reached out to Molina and asked whether he and his friends might be interested in creating a mural. The group had painted for him before, and Chen wanted a piece that would deter graffiti. The building backs up to the CTA’s Green Line L tracks.
“We told him he wouldn’t have graffiti there again,” Molina says. “Just trust the process.”
Chen says the resulting artwork is just what he wanted.
“It’s the perfect spot,” he says.
