The freshly painted mural covering the side of a North Center building rewards a second look. Some see frogs crawling up its hulking brick wall; others swear a flying saucer is rising from the colorful blobs.
It stands in stark contrast to the portrait of Iryna Zarutska that once overlooked the corner of West Montrose and North Western avenues, replacing an artwork that repeatedly drew vandals and sparked neighborhood debate. Locals say the abstraction is a welcome change, even if they’re not quite sure what they’re looking at.
“It doesn’t cause a divide over something like the other artwork did,” said Mikey Newson, 31, pausing to study the mural during his evening walk. “It gives the human brain a chance to think.”
The mural replaces a portrait of Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee who was fatally stabbed in an unprovoked attack aboard a North Carolina light rail train last August. Painted by Chicago-based artist Rubén Aguirre, the new mural appeared with little fanfare in early July.
Aguirre and leaders at Glascott & Associates, the Lincoln Park real estate company that owns the building at 2415 W. Montrose Ave., did not respond to requests for comment about the project’s timeline or purpose. In an Instagram post, Aguirre said that the repainting was not a response to the vandalism.
“As for the work that was underneath, despite its appearance, (it) was purchased ad space which has now completed its contract,” he wrote in the social media post.
Zarutska’s portrait was one of dozens installed nationwide through Remember Iryna, a campaign funded in part by Elon Musk and tech CEO Eoghan McCabe. The campaign drew criticism over both its financial backers and where the murals were installed, with critics arguing it was more focused on publicizing the killing of a white woman than honoring Zarutska herself.
The debate extended beyond Chicago. In March, Providence, Rhode Island, Mayor Brett Smiley called for the removal of a Zarutska mural painted on the side of an LGBTQ+ nightclub, describing the installation as “misguided” and “divisive.”
“It’s problematic if it’s being funded by Musk,” said Colin Gill, 38, who passes the building on his way to work at a nearby school. “If it’s being funded by him, I don’t really like it.”
In January, the words “Hang Musk” were spray-painted across the mural, the Tribune reported. Vandals splattered paint over the portrait in early February, and larger swaths of black and green paint appeared in March.
Alex Chalmers, a nearby resident, said he’s paid little attention to the new mural. He said the colorful abstraction feels more at home in the neighborhood than a portrait of someone with no apparent connection to North Center — or even Chicago.
“I feel for what happened to her, but it just felt odd,” said Chalmers, 32. “I think this looks nice and I’m happy it’s here.”
Kim Miniscalco also welcomed the new mural, though she had grown to appreciate Zarutska’s portrait on her evening walks. She said removing the artwork carries its own message.
“It made a statement,” said Miniscalco, 54. “And it kind of makes a statement that it was taken down.”
As the war in Ukraine drags on, some local Ukrainians hope the repainting shifts attention away from the mural and back to the conflict itself. Mariya Dmytriv-Kapeniak, president of the Illinois chapter of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, said the city’s attention would be better spent on Ukrainian immigrants facing expiring legal status, uncertainty and the loss of work authorization.
“As a community, we feel it is time to move beyond the mural,” she said. “Continuing to revisit it distracts from the urgent issues that deserve public attention.”
