Photo by Martha Williams for Time Out

The historic Goldblatt Building (1613 W Chicago), originally the first store in the Goldblatt Brothers Department Store chain, is now a City of Chicago office building. The Department of Cultural Affairs commissioned 12 artists to create works of art for the building.

Weeks ago, before I knew all this (and before there was any signage), I ran across the only one of these pieces visible from the street -- Tony Tasset's Snow Sculpture for Chicago. It's a note-perfect pile of dirty Chicago snow, complete with embedded trash, on display in a display window. It's awesome. It's startling when there's no snow on the ground, and it's verisimilitude when there is snow is striking.

Two weeks ago, I drug a friend over to West Town to see the sculpture again and there was now a sign up identifying the artist and describing the work. There was also a photographer inside the case taking a picture of a man I assumed was the artist. While I was animatedly exclaiming about the sculpture, the photographer motioned me and my friend forward. And now, in this week's Time Out, there we are... me observing Tony Tasset on display beside his artwork that's about observation and display. Or something.

Time Out Chicago: Art avalanche