Tony Tasset: Loop Eye sculpture complete

Tony Tasset has left me unable to wear contact lenses. After seeing David Feiferis's photos (the first three above) of the finishing touch—a giant blue iris—being put on Tasset's 30-foot sculpture Eye this morning, my fear of eyeballs grew to such gargantuan proportions that a lifetime of glasses-wearing geekdom looks good.

But the bloodshot Eye, as I've previously reported, isn't supposed to induce terror and thoughts of Visine. The Chicago Loop Alliance commissioned the three-story sculpture, installed in Pritzker Park at State and Van Buren Streets, to launch its Art Loop program, which will bring public art downtown every summer. Tasset officially unveils Eye and its companion piece, Cardinal (a series of 156 banners hung on State Street from Congress Parkway to Wacker Drive), July 7. A retrospective of the local artist's work is on view at Kavi Gupta Gallery (835 W Washington Blvd) in the West Loop through July 17.