Mark McMahon’s signature appears on tile murals at O’Hare International Airport, the Tribune Company’s Freedom Center printing plant, and a parking garage at Van Buren and Federal. But the Lake Forest artist also put his name on a lawsuit filed last June in the U.S. District Court, alleging that the city of Chicago contracted him to create a series of ceramic panels for the Riverwalk Gateway mural project but then awarded the commission to another artist. Ellen Lanyon, a former Chicagoan who now lives in New York, two weeks ago finished installing the panels in a passageway beneath Lake Shore Drive near the Chicago River. Her work (which will be dedicated June 24) traces the river’s history from early explorations to current cleanup efforts. Yet McMahon could be the one cleaning up: his $3.3 million suit alleges breach of contract and “defamation and/or commercial disparagement,” based on comments made during a closed-door meeting of the public art committee for the Department of Cultural Affairs.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
According to McMahon’s suit, city officials asked him to submit a proposal in May 1998, and he presented a package to the Chicago Department of Transportation, the project director. McMahon quoted a price of $317,521, and about a month later was notified by phone that he’d been “awarded the contract” to create 28 panels. He was given a purchase-order number and was asked to submit an invoice to CDOT for the first of three fee installments, which he did. With an April 1999 deadline, says McMahon, he immediately began to create drawings of the panels, city scenes tied in with the theme of the river and lake. He regularly apprised CDOT and project architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill of his progress, but by early July the public art program had intervened. McMahon’s suit says that director Mike Lash asked McMahon to submit his 18 completed drawings to a project advisory panel, and McMahon agreed, though he explained that he already had an agreement with the city. At a July 24 meeting at City Hall the eight-member panel, chaired by Lash, considered the proposals of seven artists. A partial transcript of the meeting is an exhibit in McMahon’s complaint.
After a vote the commission was awarded to Lanyon; the cost of the project was later scaled down to $190,000 (Lanyon created only 16 narrative panels; the remaining 12 are decorative). In October 1998 the city offered McMahon a settlement based on an hourly rate for a month and a half of work; instead he sued for $3 million in damages plus full payment for the project.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Eugene Zakusilo.
