Homo Riot, the moniker of the noted Los Angeles-based street artist, spent about 22 hours ( June 14-15 ) creating the new, colorful, graphic—and certainly gay, in words and images—stairwell entrance look and feel down into Chloe's, the new dance club that occupies a portion of what once was Spin Nightclub near the corner of Halsted and Belmont streets in Boystown.
From floor to ceiling heading down into the color, Homo Riot gave the walls a punk rock look and feel, reminiscent of the 1970s and 1980s, a throwback to CBGB in New York, he said.
CBGB ( country, bluegrass, and blues ) was a music club in New York City that became known for spotlighting punk and new wave bands, as well as hardcore punk bands. The club closed in October 2006.
"It's cool; I'm excited about [the look]," Homo Riot said, in between strokes with his paint brush as he put the finishing touches on the design.
And he's certain many will be snapping selfies as they enter—with the pink and "piss yellow," as he called it, coloring on a collage of more than 150 different images ( more than 1,000 total ) formed paper Mache-style on the brick walls.
"I like that there are some aggressive images; there is so much going on [among the images]," he said.
The genesis of Homo Riot happened around the Prop 8 decision in California in late 2008. He had been an artist and was "really upset" by the decision. So we went out to rebel against the verdict on same-sex marriage. Since then, the Homo Riot look has "grown and evolved, meaning a lot of different things to lot of different people," he said. "For me, it's sort of a continual exercise in outing myself, getting comfortable with my sexuality."
The real life Homo Riot has had a partner, Luis, for 20 years.
Homo Riot hails from northwest Florida, in a conservative family, where the only gay people he came across were the church organist and the city florist. They were really flamboyant, which is anything but Homo Riot, but they struck it.
Homo Riot had a show in Chicago a couple of years ago and also did street art locally, such as in Wicker Park. The new management team of Chloe's and Whiskey Trust, which occupies the remainder of what once was Spin Nightclub, saw him then—and remembered his work.
When they inquired if he'd create the look for the entrance to Chloe's, he was "psyched, really excited," he said.
The look is hyper-masculine, with a deviant tone.
"It's awesome," said James Rhine, the general manager at Chloe's and Whiskey Trust—and part of the three-person management team. "His art is precisely the vibe we wanted to create for Chloe's; it's exactly what we envisioned. It's freakin' cool."
Homo Riot did the Chloe's entrance by himself, admitting he would have liked an assistant for the project, which also could have used another six hours more or so. Still, he added, "I like it."
