Completed Stacey King mural goes viral, reviving Chicago’s tradition of larger-than-life bulls walls

Completed stacey king mural goes viral, reviving Chicago’s tradition of larger-than-life bulls walls

CHICAGO, IL — BIG WALL SIGN & MURAL is proud to announce the completion of its large-scale, traditionally hand-painted portrait honoring three-time Chicago Bulls champion and beloved broadcaster Stacey King at Project Logan, Chicago’s long-running community graffiti and mural wall in Logan Square.

Created and painted by Chicago artist Darius Dennis, the finished composition presents King looking upward with warmth and dignity, accompanied by a bold line-drawn Bulls head and one of his unforgettable declarations:

“Too big, too strong, too fast, too good!”

Since its completion, the independent community tribute has moved far beyond the physical wall. The mural has received television coverage and artist interviews from WGN and FOX32 Chicago, while photographs and videos of the work have circulated widely through Instagram, X, Reddit and other social platforms.

The tribute has also been acknowledged by members of King’s family, including his brother and sons, along with friends and professional colleagues—including longtime Bulls play-by-play partner Adam Amin.

“The most meaningful response has been knowing that Stacey’s family, friends and the people who worked beside him have seen the mural and understand the love behind it,” Dennis said. “This was
never just about painting a recognizable face. It was about giving Chicago somewhere public to remember the joy, humor and energy Stacey gave us.”

King’s relationship with Chicago extended across more than three decades. Selected sixth overall by the Bulls in the 1989 NBA Draft, he was a member of the franchise’s first three championship teams in 1991, 1992 and 1993. He later became an Emmy-winning television analyst and spent more than 20 years connecting generations of
Bulls fans through his basketball knowledge, humor and unmistakable broadcasting style.

The mural is located at Project Logan, behind 2929 W. Fullerton Avenue near Milwaukee Avenue. For years, the changing permission wall has provided Chicago graffiti writers, muralists and community artists with a highly visible space for public expression and collaboration.

A Modern Successor to a Legendary Chicago Advertising Tradition

The attention surrounding the Stacey King mural recalls an important chapter in Chicago’s visual and advertising history.

During the 1990s Bulls era, Chicago menswear company Bigsby & Kruthers transformed the exterior of its Kennedy Expressway warehouse into a series of monumental hand-painted advertisements featuring major Chicago athletes and celebrities.

Its most famous installation appeared in 1996: an approximately 32-foot-high portrait of Dennis Rodman, dressed in a Bigsby & Kruthers suit with the sleeves removed to reveal his tattooed arms, positioned alongside Michael Jordan. Plans called for Rodman’s painted hair to change colors whenever the real Rodman changed his.

The painting became so compelling that transportation officials reported motorists slowing or pulling over to photograph it. Contemporary reports attributed an additional 30 to 40 minutes of traffic delay to the image, and the installation was ultimately removed from that side of the building amid safety concerns.

Those murals demonstrated that a painted wall could become more than advertising. It could enter traffic reports, sports conversations, neighborhood memory and the cultural identity of the city.

The Stacey King tribute illustrates what that same power looks like in 2026.

Instead of being confined to the people who physically pass the wall, today’s large-scale painting can be photographed, recorded, reposted and discussed across social media within minutes. The physical experience and the digital response reinforce one another: people discover the mural online, visit it in person, create their own content and carry the image into new communities.

“Bigsby & Kruthers proved that a hand-painted wall could become part of the conversation of Chicago,” Dennis said. “The Stacey King mural shows what that power looks like today. The wall still stops people, but now the phone carries it beyond the wall. Public art becomes sports history, neighborhood experience, social content and earned media all at once.”

Broader out-of-home industry research supports that physical-to-digital relationship. The Out of Home Advertising Association of America has found that visually appealing outdoor work can gain a second life as shared social content, while its sports-focused research found that sports-related outdoor media frequently generates conversations, online engagement and other actions among fans.

Unlike a temporary online post, a hand-painted wall occupies real space. It gives viewers a destination, provides a human-scale connection to the person or subject being depicted and produces an installation process that is itself valuable visual content.

The organic response to the Stacey King mural provides a current, demonstrable example of how traditional sign painting and mural craft can deliver cultural relevance, public participation and significant earned-media attention.
“There is something different about seeing a person painted larger than life by hand,” Dennis added. “You see the artist working, you see the image slowly appear and you become connected to the process. By the time the portrait is finished, the community feels some ownership of the moment.”

Because Project Logan is an evolving community wall, Bulls fans, residents, photographers and visitors are encouraged to experience and document the tribute while it remains on view.

Project Details
Project: Stacey King Community Tribute Mural
Artist: Darius Dennis
Production: BIG WALL SIGN & MURAL / Big Wall Productions LLC
Location: Project Logan, behind 2929 W. Fullerton Avenue near Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago
Status: Completed and currently on view
Installation: Traditionally hand-painted large-scale public mural
Subject: Three-time Chicago Bulls champion and longtime broadcaster Stacey King
Media Available: High-resolution completion photographs, installation photographs, television interviews and artist interviews

Project Status
. The Stacey King mural is an independent community tribute created by Darius Dennis and BIG WALL SIGN & MURAL. It should not be described as an official Chicago Bulls commission or formal Bulls partnership unless such participation is subsequently confirmed by the organization.