I visited a gallery for Chicago street artist Ali 6. If you’ve made your way around Chicago street’s, you’ve seen Ali’s beloved raccoon somewhere. I know I have. According to Ali 6 the raccoon is named Richie. From the moment you stepped into the gallery Richie was everywhere. I walked through the gallery amazed at all the different ways Richie was portrayed. There were wood carvings, canvas paintings, sketches and even a sculpture of Richie. I noticed a type of psychedelic twist to some of the paintings. There was also crazy cool tripped out mushroom wood carvings. It made me think Richie was taking a bit of a …. trip or that Ali 6 was really inspired by mushrooms. 😉 I talked to Nikko, better known to everyone as Ali 6, who actually made his way over to me while I was looking at a piece. He introduced himself and we began to talk about the pieces. He let know that the pieces all went together in a story sequence. As it turned out Richie was on a trip alright and was definitely inspired by those mushrooms. The colors, patterns & themes used were so intriguing. A piece I especially liked had a tv static type of detail added to it. There was also a camouflage pattern that actually incorporated Richie in it. I was really impressed by the wood carvings. You could see the street art influence and even a bit of music influence in the pieces. Richie was listening to MF DOOM, there was a painting of some spray painting going on and a lot of trippy visuals. I left really happy I got to see the gallery and meet the artist. I was even more happy I got to see such an amazing gallery. I’m looking forward to attending the next show. For now, I’ll keep my eyes peeled for Richie on the streets of Chicago.
