Art at Amtrak Transports Chicago Travelers

By CGN Staff via PR

Last month a new exhibition opened in a somewhat unusual but highly visible space in downtown Chicago. Art at Amtrak is series of temporary public art works, curated by Debra Simon Art Consulting, and on view at Chicago's Union Station. Part of a rapid expansion of the initiative from New York Penn Station to other Amtrak stations, based on its success, this Chicago debut of Art at Amtrak, which opened October 7, features works by three acclaimed, contemporary artists who live and work in the city: Caroline Kent, Chad Kouri, and POSE (Jordan Nickel). They will remain on view through Summer 2025.  

One participant is CGN's fall cover artist, Caroline Kent. Kent’s mural, Daydreaming, covers over 40 panels at Chicago Union Station with large, abstract shapes that overlap soft pinks, blues, and yellows with richer shades of dark blue, gray, and deep green. Where these colors intersect, new hues emerge, reflecting the vibrancy of cityscapes. Inspired by various elements encountered during travel—architectures, landscapes, the horizon, sculptures—Kent’s shapes invite interpretation and imaginative associations. The overall mood conveys serene, bright, and sentimental introspection—a reflection of the emotional states experienced by travelers, whether weary or filled with anticipation. Daydreaming’s layers create depth and complexity, symbolizing the layers of experience one encounters while journeying through life and how they are embedded in memory. You can read CGN's profile of Kent from September 2024 here.        

Multidisciplinary artist Chad Kouri created a sequence of metallic orbs strung together across the windows of a vacant retail space to provide opportunities for quiet reflection and self-awareness. The work, entitled Reflection Pools Monument, evokes motion—both up and down, in and out—as the viewer’s eyes roll across its length. The titular “pools”—simple, austere, metallic surfaces—are arranged in flowing, repetitive motion to strike a balance between sophistication and playfulness, a core tenant of Kouri’s practice. 

Pop artist POSE’s mural, Accord, is loosely inspired by a wedding photo shoot he observed during his first site visit to Chicago Union Station. The photo shoot reminded the artist that the transit hub represents connection, brings people closer together, and ultimately makes relationships possible. He used that concept as a springboard for the nonlinear, bright visual narrative of Accord, which depicts an oversized comic strip bursting from its own panels. The mural boldly engulfs travelers, each enmeshed in a personal journey of their own. Like the characters in Accord, POSE encourages travelers to go beyond what is familiar, explore the world, and connect with others.

Art at Amtrak is co-conceived, curated, and produced by Debra Simon Art Consulting. Since Amtrak launched the program in June 2022 at New York Penn Station, it has expanded to Washington Union Station, Moynihan Train Hall in New York, William H. Gray III 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, and now, Chicago Union Station. Artists commissioned for the program have included William Kentridge, Shahzia Sikander, Derrick Adams, and Joshua Frankel, among many others. In addition to the works at Chicago Union Station, the Fall 2024 Art at Amtrak exhibitions include works by Chitra Ganesh and Eirini Linardaki at Penn Station, Nekisha Durrett at Washington Union Station, and Roxana Azar at Gray 30th Street Station in Philadelphia. More information about Art at Amtrak and a complete list of artists can be found here.

The establishment and rapid evolution of Art at Amtrak is the latest chapter in Debra Simon’s path-breaking career in public art. She was Director of Public Art at the Times Square Alliance and oversaw its Midnight Moment series, the world’s foremost digital public art series; created Arts Brookfield, the largest privately funded public art program in the United States; and co-founded the River to River festival, established to bring audiences back to Lower Manhattan after 9/11.

View more about Art at Amtrak at Union Station here. It's on view until Summer 2025.