Chicago murals: Donkey Kong, Mario, Spawn make SW Side stretch of murals a retro video game, comic book celebration

That’s not just any gorilla painted on an L retaining wall on 49th Street between Oakley Avenue and Western Boulevard.

It’s the iconic video game character Donkey Kong, with a twist.

Humboldt Park artist Megan Kind’s take on the Donkey Kong video game character, with the TV painted by Luis “Peas” Molina.

“I always try to make my characters a bit more illustrative and updated,” said Humboldt Park artist Megan Kind, who did the painting over the summer. “Almost like they got a bit older with us. I liked the idea of the characters playing the games,” not just being “the pawn in the game.”

Kind said she “grew up on” traditional video games, whether Donkey Kong or Super Mario Bros. or Sonic the Hedgehog — staples for gamers in the 1980s.

Celebrating those types of characters — the fun they represent, their connection to childhood — was the idea behind Kind’s mural and dozens more created along the concrete wall and nearby as part of a three-day “paint jam” in August. Called “64 Bit All Stars,” the jam was organized by Chicago artists Luis “Peas” Molina and “Doer.”

“The retro games really tie into many of our childhood memories,” Molina said, and “64-bit” refers to certain older-generation gaming systems.

Of the graffiti incursions he and other street artists did while younger, he said, “After painting Orange Line spots way into the late hours, being chased by police, dogs or other things that go bump in the night, I always remember getting home with some random fast food, sitting down and immediately jump into” a Nintendo game.

An artist works on the 49th Street retaining wall in August during a three-day “paint jam.”

Some of the better-known crews known for splashing graffiti art across the city were invited, as were a number of independent street artists.

“The way I organized it was to have the crews doing the games, and between each game, individual artists as the gamers,” said Molina, who lives in Chicago Ridge, though there were some exceptions, too.

The artist who goes by Doer, shown painting a wall in 2021.

Doer, who lives in Back of the Yards, said each artist decided which game to tackle and how.

A building at 49th Street and Oakley Avenue features characters from the video fighting games Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. The paintings were done last year.

With a building across the street featuring murals of characters from Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter video games, Molina said, “I thought it would be cool to keep the entire area one consistent theme.”