The Switching Yard

1999 · Print

May one see it?

Not receiving at present

Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.

Checked: 2 days ago
In this state since: Aug 19, 2026
Source: The museum's own collection data

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About the work

Chicago native Tony Fitzpatrick is both an artist and a poet. He has been a fixture of the Chicago-area art scene since the 1980s, and in 2009 was proclaimed by Newcity as the “best iconic Chicago personality now that Studs [Terkel] is gone.” Prints illustrating his poem Bum Town amply demonstrate Fitzpatrick's reflections on his beloved hometown in word and image. This book-length poem, published in 2001, is a gritty homage to his father and the disappearing Chicago of his own youth. Fitzpatrick’s verse recounts memories of driving around Chicago in his father’s Oldsmobile as together they listened to a White Sox baseball game on the radio. The duo wind their way through the city’s streets, recalling various now-long-gone landmarks on their way to return the ghost of Fitzpatrick’s uncle, who died as a child, to his resting place in Mount Olivet Cemetery.

Art Institute of ChicagoCC BY 4.0