20 Times This Artist Used Colorful Mosaics To Cover Potholes On Roads

Jim Bachor, also referred to as “Pothole Picasso” by the New York Post, is an artist who fixes the cracks and potholes on the pavements with his beautiful mosaic art. In an interview with DeMilked, Jim reveals, “I installed the 1st pothole mosaic in May of 2013 – I’ve now installed over 100 – mostly in Chicago but also around the US and even a few in Finland and Italy. I had been doing mosaics as a hobby for years prior to exploring pothole art.”

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Jim also shares his creative process, saying, “I’m a list person. I have many of them around my house and studio. I’ll never get to them all. With pothole art I like to frequently play with juxtaposition – playing off a universal “hate” (potholes) with a universal “love” (flowers, candy, junk food etc).”

“Other times it’s concepts that reflect my sense of humor, personality or the times in which we live. I love having my ideas out in the streets 24 hours a day for people to discover. I call them ‘unexpected grins’,” he adds.

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Image source: bachor

Talking about his inspirations, the artist says, “It was all about the amazing durability of mosaics – specifically the ancient technique I learned in Ravenna, Italy. I can trace my inspiration back to a single sentence a tour guide mentioned during my 1st visit to Pompeii back in the late 1990s – he pointed to a mosaic at the site and said ‘Marble and glass don’t fade, so this artwork looks just like the artist intended 2,000 years ago.’ That idea has driven my work ever since.”

“The idea of “pothole art” came about by merging this durable art form I’m passionate about with the unsolvable problem of the pothole,” he adds.

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