{"id":472286,"date":"2026-02-16T17:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T17:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/472286\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T17:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T17:00:09","slug":"artist-judy-chicago-logs-out-of-google-renovation-project-over-artistic-differences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/472286\/","title":{"rendered":"Artist Judy Chicago logs out of Google renovation project over artistic differences"},"content":{"rendered":"

The celebrated visual artist Judy Chicago has walked away from a major commission at Google\u2019s headquarters project in the Loop, comparing an aspect of working with the tech giant as \u201ca nightmare.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really profoundly disappointed that we couldn\u2019t produce something that the people of Chicago would be happy with,\u201d said Chicago, who was born Judith Sylvia Cohen and later adopted the name of her hometown.<\/p>\n

Chicago and her husband and collaborator, architect and photographer Donald Woodman, were picked in September to create a new terrazzo tile atrium floor at the base of the building.<\/p>\n

Chicago\u2019s works, from small to large scale, have been exhibited in galleries, museums and corporate spaces across the planet.<\/p>\n

Along with the floor, the Google job included a new decorative skin \u2014 possibly a mix of vinyl and stained glass \u2014 to adorn the atrium\u2019s exposed 17-story elevator system.<\/p>\n

But Chicago and Woodman said they left the project after four months and while the artwork was still being conceived.<\/p>\n

In a Thursday interview with the Sun-Times, Chicago and Woodman said a litany of problems with Google prompted their departure. Chicago first brought the issues to light last week in an opinion piece<\/a> on Artnet.<\/p>\n

The disclosures come as renovation work shifts to the interior of the former James R. Thompson Center; the exterior construction crane was taken down Friday.<\/p>\n

The troubles described by the artists (along with the images they supplied for this column) are the public\u2019s first look behind the glass walls of the $300 million conversion project, beyond the news releases and architectural renderings released by Google.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of people in Chicago who feel very attached to that building,\u201d Chicago said. \u201cYou know, I think if Google is going to do a building in a city like Chicago with its architectural history, they should be respectful of that history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Google spokesperson Ryan Lamont said the company sought to collaborate with Chicago on an interior art installation but couldn\u2019t agree on the project\u2019s specifications and timeline.<\/p>\n

Lamont wouldn\u2019t address the specifics of what Chicago and Woodman said but trumpeted Google\u2019s art curation program.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Computer<\/p>\n

Computer rending shows the proposed atrium floor for Google\u2019s Chicago headquarters.<\/p>\n

Provided by Judy Chicago and Donald Woodman<\/p>\n

A Google \u2018nightmare\u2019<\/p>\n

Chicago and Woodman were selected for the project more than a year after renovations began on the former Thompson Center.<\/p>\n

The artists met with Google\u2019s Chicago team, which includes architects at Jahn, the successor firm of Murphy\/Jahn, the building\u2019s original designers who are handling the renovation.<\/p>\n

Chicago said the first problems arose when Google failed to provide construction drawings needed to help the couple figure out sizing and dimensions of their proposed work.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting the renovation plans and accurate architectural drawings was a nightmare,\u201d Chicago said. \u201cDonald had to do most of that himself from his photographs that he took when we were there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The artists said another point of difficulty was Google\u2019s desire to lay the new terrazzo title over the existing one.<\/p>\n

The approach would require a thinner mix materials, but Google nixed letting Chicago and Woodman work directly with the terrazzo company to work out fabrication and other details.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Judy<\/p>\n

Judy Chicago standing on the Thompson Center\u2019s atrium floor.<\/p>\n

Chicago Woodman, Donald Woodman\/ARS, New York<\/p>\n

And along the way, Google and the company\u2019s art consultant, without explanation, reduced the size of their floor design, the artists said.<\/p>\n

What would have been an expansive retiling of the floor space was cut down to just a rosette replacing the one currently there.<\/p>\n

Also, Chicago and Woodman said one project member complained Chicago\u2019s colors were too bright \u2014 an odd take given bright tones have been a hallmark of Chicago\u2019s work for more than six decades. The floor\u2019s design is based on the 1973 acrylic-on-canvas work \u201cThrough the Flower,\u201d one of the artist\u2019s best-known paintings.<\/p>\n

But the color intensity of the finished product might have looked different once it\u2019s taken through the detailed dance between artists and fabricators that involves things like material selection, and coatings.<\/p>\n

What you see on a monitor or printout isn\u2019t always what you get.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s much [like] a construction project [than buying] a painting and putting it on the wall, or to have a mural in a conference room ” Woodman said. \u201cThis is a very unique project. I don\u2019t think Google has done this kind of thing very often.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next?<\/p>\n

Ever since Google released renderings<\/a> of the renovation in 2024, there\u2019s been more than a little concern the building\u2019s unforgettable atrium, while not ripped down, would wind up blanded-out and ordinary.<\/p>\n

Google didn\u2019t say if the job would now pass on to another artist. But here was a chance to make a bold move to make sure the new work retained color and life \u2014 albeit in a different form \u2014 to a space that will still function as kind of a town square.<\/p>\n

Whether the atrium floor and elevators winds up being a blown opportunity or not depends on who or what Google tees up next.<\/p>\n

Chicago told me the existing floor could be moved outside and made a part of the building\u2019s new outdoor plaza.<\/p>\n

I think leaving the floor in place and restoring it would be a good idea at this point.<\/p>\n

As for Chicago and Woodman: \u201cI started [as an artist] when I was a little girl and … used to go downtown to the Art Institute of Chicago, where I started taking art lessons,\u201d said Chicago, 86, who lives in New Mexico. \u201cAnd so to come back to Chicago, at the end of my career would have been, like, completing a circle. And a wonderful kind of ending to what started in Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The celebrated visual artist Judy Chicago has walked away from a major commission at Google\u2019s headquarters project in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472287,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88],"class_list":["post-472286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}