Old dormant grain silos on South Side are an enduring industrial canvas for graffiti artists

The towering, old grain silos near 29^th Street and Damen Avenue, on the banks of the Chicago River’s south branch, date to Chicago’s heyday as a hub of manufacturing and food distribution.

While they haven’t been functional for decades, the dormant, weathered structures have long been a draw for graffiti artists and taggers who’ve turned the 24-acre site into something of an industrial canvas.

That includes the silos themselves, adjoining structures that are as tall as 15 floors and a series of cavernous tunnels snaking below.

Not exactly the safest place to roam — and not a legal place to visit, either, as the “No Trespassing” signs inform.

Mark Capapas / Sun-Times

Mark Capapas / Sun-Times

Nevertheless it remains a popular spot for street artists to ply their colorful trade, whether considered art or an eyesore.

A street artist who goes by Werm has painted at the silos over the years — including on the roof in the mid-1990s when he says it wasn’t such a well known spot.

Part of the allure of the place, Werm says, was that “there’s a lot of walls and it’s abandoned, it’s a place where anyone can go practice, and there’s no rules, and you can take your time.”

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“Before there was no security, there were open gates and people could just walk in, it was a public underground street art gallery,” Werm says, adding security has definitely tightened up since.

Another veteran street artist who goes by Emte said a number of years ago a construction company he worked at was getting rid of hundreds of gallons of old paint, and he said, “I’ll take it.”

He brought it to the silo grounds and “we used it to roll out all the brick walls . . . we were just caking walls and inviting people to come paint.”

“It was some of the best graffiti artists at that time that I pied pipered to come in,” he said.

“It’s an outlet to express ourselves,” he said. “I wanted it to be a super-dope unsanctioned museum, and it did become that, but it only lasted five or six years.”

Courtesy of @acid_dropz_

Then the site became more widely known and graffiti artists started descending like locusts, sometimes without regard for images created by others.

The “Chicagoist” website once included the “Damen Silos” on a list of “16 Must-See Examples Of Chicago Street Art.”

Chicago photographer Jordan Scott felt compelled to capture the gritty grandeur of the place with his camera in 2018.

Courtesy of Jordan Scott

Courtesy of Jordan Scott

In a subsequent online essay, he described the site as “something out of a dystopian Hollywood movie set” that’s “hanging on to existence by some unknown hand that resists its complete demolition and redevelopment.”

Courtesy of @dianaaa.s

Courtesy of @773slickrick

Three years later, it’s still standing and awaiting that redevelopment.

Courtesy of @devodare_chicago

Courtesy of @devodare_chicago

The site is owned by the State of Illinois, which “is committed to selling the property,” says a spokesman, adding that Gov. J.B. Pritzker “continues to look for opportunities to dispose of underutilized assets to spur economic development, generate real estate taxes and maximize taxpayer value.”