Born in 1966, Chicagoan, John E. Bannon, is a multi-media visual artist whose work is seen in public and private collections locally and abroad. Education: BFA, 1990, University of Illinois @ Urbana-Champaign; MFA, 2002, School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Exhibitions: Neon and Light Museum, Chicago; Truck Gallery, Calgary, AB, Canada; Lollapalooza Festival, Chicago; Lakefront Sculpture Exhibition, Collections: Rowan University, New Jersey; Chicago Transit Authority HQ; Clune Construction, Chicago; Cellular One, Baltimore.
Twenty-two neon tubes suspended in the atrium of the CTA Headquarters simultaneously describe three images celebrating four aspects of the transit authority. When viewed from below, Transit depicts the train and bus system maps. Looking west from the lobby mezzanine, an elevated train appears to depart a station, while the north-facing image is a CTA bus arriving at a stop. Transit is an illusion of two dimensions in a three-dimansional space and the illusion of three dimensions in a two dimensional, resulting in a four dimensional work of art.