Jim Bachor is known for filling Chicago potholes with old world, mosaic tile artwork. But his work doesn’t depict Roman emperors or ancient religious figures. More often it’s a pack of Marlboro cigarettes or a delicious frozen ice cream treat.

“I’ve found that my goal in life is to drag the artform of the mosaic kicking and screaming into the 21st century,” Bachor said.

Bachor recently opened a new gallery of his work at 1111 W. Lawrence Ave. in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood, right across the street from the Aragon Ballroom. He’s offering original mosaics for sale – typically at a cost of hundreds or thousands of dollars – but also cheaper prints, T-shirts, stickers, and – soon – classes.

In this episode, Rundown podcast host Erin Allen talks with Bachor about how he got started in this highly tedious artform and why he started putting his work in some of Chicago’s many, many potholes.

This episode originally aired on Oct. 25, 2023.