Above / The latest work featuring an image of Dick Tracy, the world’s most-recognized crime stopper, will find a home in the Hotel Indigo along the Riverwalk in downtown Naperville.
In recent weeks, Naperville artists Dick Locher and Marianne Lisson Kuhn have been collaborating on a painting featuring a contemporary likeness of Dick Tracy that will hang on the second floor of the new Hotel Indigo along the Riverwalk.
More than a few times since his retirement as a comic strip writer and editorial cartoonist, Locher has worked on pieces that have found prominence throughout town. From the Dick Tracy story with a self-portrait on the mural of great artists alongside the Naperville Art League Gallery (Fifth Avenue at Center Street) to the image of city founder Joseph Naper at Naper Homestead (Jefferson at Mill), the 87-year-old artist originally from Iowa keeps creating noteworthy works.
On Nov. 2, 2016, PN watched as his vibrant colors and cooperative brush strokes brought his latest Dick Tracy image to life on canvas. And all the while, Locher’s wit and wisdom were ever present as he toyed with ideas regarding the political commentary of the day, adding another element of brilliance.
“Politics is money grabbing, back stabbing, name calling… and there’s also a downside,” he quipped a week prior to the General Election with a twinkle in his eye.
And Locher reminisced about creative editorializing at the Chicago Tribune and the remarkable 2016 Chicago Cubs all the while he mixed and matched yellow tones for the new Dick Tracy with his artist companion, Lisson Kuhn.
[shareprints gallery_id=”67375″ gallery_type=”squares” gallery_position=”pos_center” gallery_width=”width_100″ image_size=”small” image_padding=”0″ theme=”dark” image_hover=”false” lightbox_type=”slide” titles=”true” captions=”true” descriptions=”true” comments=”true” sharing=”true”]Residents will recall that the 9-foot tall Dick Tracy sculpture created in 2010 to stand in front of the Naperville Township Building currently is stored for safe-keeping during construction of the Water Street District. Â When the Water Street District is finished at the edge of the DuPage River, the popular Century Walk piece will return to its location, likely by spring 2017.
Dick Tracy here, you’re all under arrest…Over and out!
And by the time the hotel opens, a new work depicting the Dick Tracy character will be finished and hung for hotel guests and visitors to appreciate.
“Dick Tracy here, you’re all under arrest… Over and out!” will find its place, marked with a plaque that states the Naperville resident is a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist and his partner in crime on this latest work is a well-known Naperville native, artist and Century Walk muralist.
UPDATE Nov. 16, 2016 / In order to ensure the quality guest experience that Hotel Indigo is known to offer, the management of Hotel Indigo Riverwalk Naperville, Marquette Companies and IHG have chosen to delay the opening of the downtown Naperville hotel until November 29, 2016.
