Stars on her cheek, the woman in this Pilsen mural is all Chicago

Some people have stars in their eyes. The woman featured in a Pilsen mural, created by Humboldt Park artist Raul “Rawooh” Ramirez, has stars on her cheek.

Ramirez put them there as a nod to Chicago’s iconic city flag, which includes four red stars nestled between two baby-blue strips against a white backdrop.

“I wanted something Chicago based,” he says.

“I did something I like doing — female portraits. But the hair flows onto some abstract city skyline, the Chicago city skyline.”

“I added some Chicago stars on her face to give it more a Chicago flair.”

Provided

Ramirez, who grew up in Hermosa, created the piece in late 2021 along Paulina Street near Cullerton Street.

While the face is to the left on the exterior wall of the two-story residential building, toward the right, there’s “an abstract element on the edge,” he says.

“The very right corner is an image of a marker, so it’s almost like she’s being drawn in real time by the marker.”

Ramirez has been active art-wise in Pilsen and beyond.

In 2019 he painted a giant mural at 21st Place and Racine Avenue featuring a young woman sitting by an old record player that’s atop a sticker-laden chest with books scattered about.

“I wanted to set a mood,” Ramirez said at the time. “She’s in her zone, she’s in her world, she’s in her bedroom listening to music.”

Sun-Times file

That mural, titled “Kind of Blue,” was inspired by an album of the same name by jazz great Miles Davis.

Ramirez says lately he’s “been doing a lot of commission work, studio work.”

He has a painting project coming up in a Berwyn auto body shop.

But once the weather warms up and that’s all done, he’s “going back on the street, working on some murals,” Ramirez says.