INSIDE: The Best Art from The Fashion Outlets of Chicago

By Leslie Price Jul 30, 2013, 3:45pm CDT

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

A colorful mobile by Friends With You (named "Dream Maker"). Bonus: It moves! The artists say that it "represents a miniature solar system that directly relates to your fortune and dreams."
Another view of the massive Dream Maker "mobile."
Jen Stark's colorful "Wormhole" installation hangs above shoppers' heads.
Stark describes the piece as a “vortex.”
Ballon art! Artist Andrew Nigon's work, "Galaxy Contracting."
From further away.

All photos by Barry Brecheisen.

Enclosed shopping malls can induce a very specific sort of garishly-lit, soft-pretzel-scented malaise, but the Fashion Outlets of Chicago is working to counter these doldrums with a genuinely interesting and compelling collection of site-specific art installations. Dreamed up by the Outlets' developers and curated by Miami gallery Primary Projects, the works hang from ceilings, color escalators, pop off of vestibules and droop down walls. As the chairman of the development company said to press, "We sought to change the social experience and base it around food, art and fashion."

Ten contemporary artists contributed works to the project and when crack Racked photog Barry Brecheisen stopped by for a walkthrough on Friday morning, a few were finishing up their pieces. Take a virtual tour of some of our favorites above and after the jump.

Cleveland-born artist Jim Drain created a wacky, wallpaper-like piece named "Rakes and Snakes."
Kenton Parker's inkjet print of himself lines a wall near Last Call by Neiman Marcus on the mall's second level. It's titled "Out of Line."
Longman & Eagle owner Cody Hudson is responsible for this colorblocking escalator work titled "I'm Still Here (Contemplation Station)."
LA-based artist Alvaro Illizarbe's black-and-white line-work ("Landscape Study") graces a ceiling next to Michael Kors.
Artist Bert Rodriguez installed rows and rows of clocks near Bloomies on the second level. The piece is named "Never Forget Where."
More clocks.
Jen Stark hard at work on "Drippy," which wraps another elevator in the structure.
Up close.
Miami's Bhakti Baxter added this swirly number ("Circle Spiral") to a wall on the second level of the space.
Daniel Arsham's "Big Drip" makes it seem like the wall is melting.
Closer.
Another Daniel Arsham piece, this time resembling a man falling. It's near Saks on the first level.
A close up on "Falling Figure."
Arsham's third work, titled "Falling Time."