In August 1966, Chryssa made her Chicago debut of The Gates to Times Square in the 68th American Exhibition curated by James Speyer at the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC). The avant-garde exhibition included contemporaries such as Robert Rauschenberg, Ellsworth Kelly, Christo, and Frank Stella. A decade later, the exhibition’s curator, James Speyer, introduced Chryssa to architect Bruce Graham, senior partner of the renowned ­rm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), and his team for a commission in their new building at 33 West Monroe Street—one of the largest works she would produce.

Crafted in the architectural tradition of the Chicago School, 33 West Monroe Street is a pure expression of a steel structural frame wrapped around three cascading atriums. Richard F. Tomlinson II, under the stewardship of Graham whose legacy encompasses iconic landmarks such as the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) and the John Handcock Center, led the development of the building, which still stands tall today. However, a distinct feature is missing: the monumental Chryssa sculpture.

Graham once said architecture contains life, and perhaps the most neglected part of life is the arts. Art, he believed, is a pillar of civilization. He was instrumental in securing public artworks from 20th-century titans, from Pablo Picasso to Alexander Calder. The senior team at SOM sought the expertise of James Speyer in their search for an artist to illuminate 33 West Monroe’s dim and cavernous atrium. Who could be a better fit than Chryssa, the Greek artist who sculpts with light?

After two years in production, Chryssa’s luminous, kinetic sculpture towered over 70 feet tall, comprising six individual modules, each bearing the weight of or roughly 3000 pounds. To Chryssa, the glowing plexi sections resembled “an arrow shape, or an “M” or “an abstracted bird,” each on a timer slowly pulsing on and off. The light-filled tubes were concealed within a treated plastic veneer, contrasting with her earlier exposed neon configurations. The maintenance, hanging, and cooling of the enormous installation presented its own challenges. Each section included 900 feet of white neon tubes, radiating untenable heat. Tomlinson and Edward Duckett engineered an air circulation and levy system into the tubular suspension.

Over the next decade, Chryssa frequented Chicago, forming a close relationship with Bruce Graham, his wife Jane Abend and SOM staff, including Brigitte Peterhans, David Fleener, and Sonia Cooke. Here, she found a renewed enthusiasm for the United States after her struggles in the 1970s. In a letter to written to AIC curator Charles Stuckly in 1994, Chryssa considered selling one of her New York lofts to make a permanent move to Chicago. Instead, she begins spending more time in Athens in the 1990’s, sets up a studio in Neos Kosmos, and initiates work on a foundation to be established at the end of her life. She proposed large public sculptures inspired by The Gates in cities globally including New York, Paris, Madrid, and Chicago. These sculptures remain unrealized.

Over time, the upkeep of her installation at 33 West Monroe dwindled. The clear plexi turned yellow and dull with dust. During the atrium’s remodeling in the early 2000s, new leadership at SOM deemed the six-story winged sculpture in “terrible shape” and too expensive to repair. For the last time, the light was extinguished, and Chryssa was erased from Chicago’s catalog of public sculpture.

 

-Ashley Janke, Wrightwood 659 Assistant Curator.