Bandit, 2008

“My wife and daughter and I were getting in a car by our building, and a guy came down the street and pulled a gun; then he just turned and walked away. Bandit is the intensity of the urban experience.”

To the East Were Moving Waters, 2001

“This painting was a commission for an apartment on Lake Shore Drive, in one of the Mies buildings overlooking the lake. The painting is a window, a symbolic evocation of city and sky, facing the lake to the east.”

Chinatown, 2007

“As a kid, it was a long streetcar ride to Chinatown, and it was like going to an exotic land. Chinatown is a reference to Chicago’s ethnic diversity, a swirling mix of people.”

GO » William Conger: New Paintings. Jan 16–Mar 3. Roy Boyd Gallery, 739 N Wells. royboydgallery.com. William Conger: Paintings 1958-2008. Jan 24–Mar 29. Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E Washington. 312-744-6630.

Photography: Courtesy Roy Boyd Gallery