In a few vacant storefronts around Highland Park, art has filled the void — large cartoonish portraits of people bearing vulnerable, soulful and even comic expressions.
Their creator, Jonathan Plotkin, a Highland Park artist and commercial real estate developer, is hoping his “doodles” lead to larger-scale artistic enterprise that will provide artists a new platform for their work — vacant storefront windows — while also making the community more aesthetically interesting.
The rules vary by community on how empty retail windows are governed. In Highland Park’s central and Ravinia business districts, 80 percent of any ground floor window on a vacant building must be covered “so as to obscure a direct public view” of the inside. Other suburbs, like Deerfield, take the opposite approach and ask property owners to ensure visibility into the building’s interior.
In Plotkin’s vision, barren store windows would be transformed into a “living, breathing comic book,” in which artists get paid, nonprofits benefit and property owners enhance the community.
“There are a lot of talented artists out there,” said Plotkin, 60. “This is a way to let the world know what they do. It’s like a blank canvas waiting to be filled.”
Plotkin’s plan is still being developed. But the basic premise is to coordinate with other artists to provide their work — printed on paper, vinyl or another medium — at a cost for property owners to cover the windows. If a passerby wants to buy a piece, proceeds go to the artist and to a nonprofit organization of the artist’s choosing.
As an example, Plotkin said he recently sold a piece for $500 and intended to donate half to The Art Center-Highland Park, where he serves on the board of directors.
Plotkin has about 30 pieces hanging in windows around town, including in one downtown building owned by his real estate company, Endurance Retail Partners.
He also has several featured in the defunct strip mall in downtown Ravinia that used to house the 7-Eleven convenience store.
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Developer Alfred Klairmont, of Imperial Realty, owns that property at 515-555 Roger Williams Ave. and plans to break ground this year on the construction of a four-story mixed-use building at the site. Klairmont said city officials told him he must cover his windows until the building was razed.
Klairmont said he considered Highland Park’s window regulations to be “a burden on owners to decorate an empty window, kind of like adding injury to insult.”
But he also said Plotkin’s art has generated positive buzz.
“Since Jon’s art has been up in the windows, I’ve been barraged by positive reinforcement,” Klairmont said. “Absolutely barraged.”
Last year, Highland Park “updated its vacant storefront regulations and guidelines in an effort to improve the image of vacant storefronts and the city’s pedestrian oriented shopping districts,” said Carolyn Hersch, the city’s business development coordinator.
Window screenings “shall consist of graphic elements, words, or letters” and can’t advertise off-site business. City guidelines recommend professional installation.
Highland Park’s ordinance also contains this sentence: “No Window Screening shall contain any matter, in writing or in a depiction, that, when considered as a whole, predominantly appeals to prurient interests.”
“There’s a fine line between provocative and offensive,” Plotkin said. “There are probably some taste issues yet to be fully explored.”
In Deerfield, there are no regulations keeping a property owner from keeping their empty windows uncovered, said village planner Jean Spagnoli. In fact, they are prohibited from covering more than 20 percent of the window, she said.
“We don’t want windows totally blacked out,” Spagnoli said.
That’s not to say Deerfield businesses haven’t displayed art in empty store windows, said Andrew Lichterman, assistant to the village manager. The company managing the building at the corner of Deerfield and Waukegan roads painted a winter scene on the window during the holidays.
“We’ve been encouraging them to think about what that might look like in other seasons,” Lichterman said. “But hopefully it gets filled and we don’t need it.”
In the Ravinia business district, Danielle Yucht, owner of Couef, an accent furniture store, agreed that drawing businesses to vacant buildings should be the goal. But in the meantime, she said, art filling the empty windows matches the “artsy vibe” of the community.
“Empty windows are depressing,” Yucht said. “It really helps with the aesthetic of our downtown.”
Twitter: @NorthShoreTrib