Six Layers of Chicago by Chipka
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No AI - This artwork was created entirely by hand or with traditional digital tools.
Description
I read a novel—one among many—with a nicely-poetic title: Nine Layers of Sky. It was a work of science fiction involving figures from Russian folklore. The immortal hero, Ilya Muromets played a central role: an antique hero. He’d been displaced from his own era into the early twenty-first century. There were alternate worlds within this novel, Russia and an alternate Russia, with a permeable membrane between the two. I don’t remember very much about the novel; but I do remember that I enjoyed it.
This image has nothing to do with the nine layers of some metaphorical sky. It does, however, have a lot to do with…nested realities. In this case, six versions of Chicago, arranged like the layers of an onion, or like dolls-within-dolls, on and on, inward and still-more-inward. They layers in this image are rather like matroiska-dolls: they vary in size and density. They vary in subject matter, and yet they are all unified: by color, by the density of things inside. Mostly, though, by color. I was surprised by the prominence of an old sign, marking the Cedar Hotel: a transient’s hostel of sorts, improbably located within the boundaries of Chicago’s Gold Coast.
Nine Layers of Sky has nothing to do with this image, and yet this is Six Layers of Chicago. There is a person in this image. There are numerous people, and I can’t help but wonder if one of them might be Ilya Muromets, in birch-bark sandals, ambling east on Chicago Avenue. Or maybe not.
As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and I hope you’re all having a great week.
Comments (11)
Very cool image I found the person and he is walking towards us - he is on a mission, and if he is to succeed in this mission, we must be ready to help him.
excellent !
Yep, the person looks very purposeful. Superb image.
Yes i see the person. I try to fathom out how you put pic on pic :o)))
Amazing work my friend. God bless.
Absolutely fantastic. I see the layers on by one. Really superbly done.
You are SO inspiring! This is the second or third time I've looked at one of your images, toddled off and created something new, and realized I hadn't even commented yet. I just took seven reflection shots and combined them. How many images does that make? LOL! The mind boggles. I LOVE this layer/layer thing with only Chicago subjects. (It makes me think I need to add a "Chicago" album to my gallery.) I can see the corncob building, the flamingo ... and it's all stacked "across the street," making this look like a really complicated reflection in something like the Morningstar building. Out-freakin'-standing!
I love how your reality is so mutable, and seems to have no boundaries between visibility and knowability... well done Chip!
Nicely assembled as always. It takes a moment to note the layers you've introduced. The old stone clock tower emerging from the modern glass facade is a clever contrast. And there is a sense of overlapping worlds here. All somewhat the same or at least compatible but all very different too. Each interconnected by an enigmatic and often unexplained corridor of lights - like all good sci-fi visuals. And what inter-dimensional (maybe that should be 'intra', just wondering) traveler would not welcome a good hotel after such a journey? Let's hope the currency is equally as parallel otherwise there's going to be a very poor exchange rate. So much for a nice hotel.
wonderful picture
SUPERLATIVE!