‘Do the damn thing’: Chicago artist Robert Earl Paige on 60 years of art

Chicago artist Robert Earl Paige has 60 years worth of his art on display right now at the Hyde Park Art Center. He sat down with Rundown podcast host Erin Allen to talk about his childhood on the South Side in the 1930s and 40s, his early design work in both Chicago and Milan, Italy, why he’s dabbled in creating art on top of everything from T-shirts to rocks, and his key piece of advice for the next generation of artists.“The marketplace is very fickle,” Paige said on the Rundown podcast. “The stuff that you love, they hate. The stuff they hate, you love. It's a mad thing. So my idea and what I tell most artists: Just do the damn thing. Get it out there.”“The United Colors of Robert Earl Paige” is on display at the Hyde Park Art Center through October 27, 2024.