Photo: Check Out A Bean-Sized Painting Of The Bean
By Mae Rice in Arts & Entertainment on May 25, 2016 6:53PM
Updated at 3:45 p.m. after interviewing the artist: The Bean in Millennium Park is, you may have noticed, big. Much bigger than a normal bean. The sculpture by British artist Anish Kapoor, officially titled "Cloud Gate," is 33 feet tall and weighs 110 tons, according to the city.
But, perhaps in honor of its 10th anniversary—it was dedicated in Millennium Park back in 2006—Chicago artist Jonathan Larson has made a painting of it that shrinks the sculpture down to organic-bean-sized. It is adorable (and, unfortunately, already sold):
Check out http://www.cubiclism.com if you dig this sort of thing"[L]iving in Chicago, the Bean was one of the first things I thought to paint," Larson told Chicagoist. "It's totally unique and recognizable... [and] painting a Chicago landmark was a good way to connect with a lot of people."
Larson didn't paint the Bean while physically sitting in front of it, but he took the reference photo he painted from, shooting from a neighboring rooftop. "I think looking down on the Bean from above is a pretty neat angle," he said. "Especially in the evening, the sun shines through the skyline and makes for a pretty impressive reflection."
Per the caption on Larson's Imgur post, we also dutifully headed to his personal website, Cubiclism, for further info. There, he explains the rationale behind the size of the painting, writing: "Cubiclism is the idea that fine art can and should exist in offices, on desks and dashboards, and—yes—in cubicles." In that spirit, he tries to make art that can fit in a cubicles without any hassle at all—like this tiny painting.
[H/T Reddit]