David Krueger, Beloved Chicago Painter And Comics Creator, Dies At 63
转载声明：本文转载自 Block Club Chicago，版权归原作者及原媒体所有。
WEST TOWN — Whenever a person walked into Arts of Life, a creative nonprofit for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, David Krueger was one of the first people they would meet.
When Vincent Uribe joined the organization 13 years ago, Krueger gave him a tour of the West Town studio. Located in an industrial corridor, the unassuming, warehouse-style building had little signage at the time, Uribe recalled.
Krueger “was so warm and welcoming to people who entered this otherwise, I think, fairly intimidating location,” said Uribe, the nonprofit’s head of art partnerships and events. “He was the most hospitable, the most outspoken and just wanted to meet people and welcome them in.”
It was like that for nearly two decades, since Krueger joined in 2007 as a resident artist. In that time, he established himself as a multi-disciplinary artist — working in the studio five days per week for over a decade, painting canvas and murals, creating music with the Arts of Life Band and collaborating on comics with artist and publisher Ben Marcus.
Krueger “was really prolific, both as an artist and a musician,” Uribe said. His “hospitality, creativity and sense of humor is something that people won’t forget. You can see it in all of his work.”
Krueger, who grew up in Portage Park and for many became inseparable from Arts of Life, died Oct. 10. He was 63.
A visitation is 10 a.m. Thursday at Tohle Funeral Home , 4325 W. Lawrence Ave. In lieu of flowers, people are encouraged to donate to Arts of Life .
Krueger’s mother was an artist, and she fostered his love for the arts, according to Disparate Minds , an advocacy and research initiative for developmentally disabled artists. The project was founded by Arts of Life team members Tim Ortiz and Andreana Donahue.
“Dave’s approach to storytelling was complex and highly inventive; his imagination seamlessly converged with various influences — from favorite horror and sci-fi films to comic books and dense geometric patterns — to shape fantastical, ever-evolving narratives,” Donahue wrote in a statement to Block Club. “Working effortlessly across media, his daily creative practice ranged from vibrant sketchbook drawings to large-scale acrylic paintings. Looking ahead, it’s vital to preserve and illuminate the legacy of his singular body of work.”
His art — which has been displayed around Chicago and even as far as Miami and Japan — is inventive and “saturated with symbols, vibrant colors, graphic shapes, and detailed patterns,” according to his Arts of Life artist page .
“I make paintings with my own two hands — these are my tools,” Krueger is quoted as saying on the Arts of Life website. “These are the magic fingers, I’ve got the Midas touch. I get ideas from watching TV or my imagination. My brain tells me everything and I’ll do a sketch. It could be any sketch I choose, then I draw it out on canvas. Everything fits together like a jigsaw puzzle. People like my art, they say ‘Ohhhh Krueger, you’ve got talent!’”
While Krueger’s legacy lives on through his vast collection of work — including the Arts of Life Band’s album , helmed by Karim Shuquem — he is also remembered for his unfiltered humor and effervescent spirit.
“He would say sometimes the wildest things and just make everybody laugh,” Uribe said. “Things just kind of flowed, and I think that was one of the things that really brought so much joy to everyone around him.”
Some of that wit is captured in “Love Man,” an indie comic made by Krueger and Ben Marcus of Goodbye Press . The two were introduced in 2014 by Uribe, who told Marcus about a mentorship program that pairs Arts of Life residents with other Chicago artists.
“ Love Man ” follows an alien-human casanova who desires two things: love and Slurpees from 7-11. The character’s flirtatious nature and affinity for sugary drinks are inspired by Krueger, Marcus told Block Club.
Whether they were writing one-liner captions or creating scenes with dialogue, Krueger “could endlessly generate” ideas by just being himself, Marcus said. Marcus wrote down many of Krueger’s quips and comments that he hoped to integrate into the story. “Love Man” was a place to put them all.
“It’s an extension of Dave’s personality. He was very charismatic, and he was very openly flirtatious and funny and chatty,” he said. “Everyone loved him for it.”
People can purchase “Love Man” copies and posters from Goodbye Press here .
When Marcus visited Krueger while in hospice, Krueger said “something about how even though he was in this situation, he still had a soda to drink.
“It just felt very true to him that he’s in that situation, but he’s like, ‘You know, at least I got my pop,’” Marcus said. “I remember laughing actually pretty genuinely, even in that situation where maybe you wouldn’t be laughing. … He would say stuff off the top of his head — it was very authentic.”
Krueger and Marcus’ partnership exemplified “exactly what our mission was,” said Arts of Life co-founder Denise Fisher, who launched the organization in 2000 with Veronica “Ronnie” Cuculich. While people often have to learn to be good collaborators, that was something that came naturally to Krueger, Fisher said.
He “was just so open and warm with everybody who came in,” Fisher said. “You can see his work in other artists’ work … because he was such a leader in our program.”
Marcus remembers him as being “very chatty” and “incredibly sweet” with other artists in the studio, asking about their lunches and always giving Marcus big hugs upon arriving and leaving the studio.
“He’s sort of a celebrated character for a reason,” Marcus said. “He just had that quality, bringing people into his world.”
Emily Tuesday met Krueger after joining Arts of Life, where she worked from 2009-17. Over those eight years, the two would drive around the city and suburbs together giving presentations about Arts of Life.
Krueger also got ordained for Tuesday’s wedding, which he officiated in 2013, she said.
“If you knew Arts of Life, then you knew and loved Dave. And if you knew and loved Dave, then you knew and loved Arts of Life,” Tuesday said. “You never had to guess if he loves you. I think that everyone who came into Dave’s sphere felt like he loved them the most, because that’s how he made them feel.”
In a tribute Fisher penned for Krueger last week, she wrote : “I’m not going to lie, this loss feels like a piece of Arts of Life is gone, never to be returned. If you knew Dave, you know exactly what I mean. It’s not that he meant more to our community than any other member, but that he gave so much to all of us.
“We lost a colleague, a friend, a mentor, and a champion of Arts of Life, leaving us with a strong legacy to live up to.”
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