If you’ve spent any time looking at the limestone blocks that line the lakefront north and south of Foster Avenue Beach in Chicago you’ve probably noticed the carvings that look like they are from ancient Mexico. They should, since some — and probably all — are based on actual Mayan carvings.
These art works are complex, so much so that the imagery can take careful study to decipher, just as it does in the actual Mayan ruins. There are skeletons, gods, birds and jaguars, as well as a variety of other shapes and forms as well as multiple instances of the artist’s signature. Those signatures are themselves works of art, with multiple variations on UJH and the year (1995 and 1996) as well as frequent inversions of the characters, as can be seen in the gallery below.
I actually saw this Foster Beach Master of the Mayan Carvings at work one day in 1995 or ’96. I had neither the presence of mind to speak with him nor a full appreciation of what he was accomplishing. I can only say he was a middle-aged hispanic gentleman working with hand tools.
Why he made all these carvings remains a mystery, but what he left behind is a stunning tribute to the masterpieces of Mayan art on which he based them.
Check out the Schele Drawing Collection via Ancient Americas at LACMA.
Read about the Chicago lakefront carvings.