I look after Paul's editions.
Let me show you around.
First stop: Da Skyline.The skyscraper was born here, 1885.Sears Tower: world's tallest till '98.Jeanne Gang's Aqua ripples like water.Next stop: the Obama Center.Paul calls it a freaky girl shoe.Apparently that's a good thing.It opened on Juneteenth, 2026.Next stop: Marina City.Each apartment is a pizza slice.The first 19 floors are all parking.Built to bring people back downtown.Next stop: Andersonville.Chicago's Swedish neighborhood.A big blue horse stands on Clark St.Paul always wants to jump on her.Next stop: Federal Plaza.Calder's Flamingo: 53 feet of red.Some days you see the flamingo.Calder rode in behind 40 horses.Next stop: Humboldt Park.Two steel flags arch over Division.Each is 59 feet tall and 45 tons.Nobody loves their flag like Boricuas.Next stop: Uptown Jazz.The Green Mill's been open since 1907.Capone's booth faced both doors.Paul's favorite place to catch jazz.Next stop: the Loop.The L tracks loop it. Hence the name.The elevated ring closed in 1897.Cable cars circled it first, in 1882.Next stop: Uptown.The Uptown Theatre held 4,381 people.Dark since 1981, and still gorgeous.The Aragon dances under a painted sky.Paul's drawing every neighborhood.The river has run backward since 1900.681 collectors so far.Thank you, every one of you.
DA SKYLINE
JACKSON PARK - OBAMA
Marina City
ANDERSONVILLE - DALA HORSE
Federal Plaza
HUMBOLDT PARK
UPTOWN JAZZ
THE LOOP
UPTOWN
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New editions are announced here first. If you want to collect the work, this is how you hear about a drop before it opens.
About
I’m Paul Octavious, a photographer and digital artist in Chicago.
This is where the editions live. Every print is made to order, numbered, and comes with a Certificate of Authenticity. When an edition closes, it closes — nothing here gets reprinted.
The one-offs stay in the studio. These are the ones I let go.
The prints
JACKSON PARK - OBAMA. Olmsted and Vaux laid out the park in 1871, and the World's Columbian Exposition filled it in 1893. The Obama Presidential Center's museum tower now rises 225 feet over the same ground.
MARINA CITY. Bertrand Goldberg's corncobs on the river at State Street, finished in 1964: 587 feet, the tallest apartments in the world when they opened, with a parking ramp spiralling up the first nineteen floors.
ANDERSONVILLE - DALA HORSE. The Dala horse comes from Dalarna, Sweden, where woodcutters have carved them from pine offcuts and painted them for their children since the 1600s. Swedes settled Clark Street in the 1850s, and the Swedish American Museum's horse still stands on the sidewalk there.
FEDERAL PLAZA. Calder's Flamingo has stood among Mies van der Rohe's black federal buildings since October 25, 1974: 53 feet tall, 50 tons of steel, painted the vermilion now called Calder red. The city named it Alexander Calder Day, Calder rode into the Loop on a forty-horse wagon behind elephants and clowns, and his Universe was unveiled at the Sears Tower the same day.
HUMBOLDT PARK. Paseo Boricua is Division Street between Western and California, the heart of Puerto Rican Chicago. Two steel flags, 59 feet tall and 45 tons each, have arched over its two ends since Three Kings Day 1995 — official Chicago landmarks now — and in 2024 the district took the Taíno name for the island, Barrio Borikén.
DA SKYLINE. The first skyscraper, the Home Insurance Building, went up here in 1885. The Sears Tower was the tallest building on Earth from 1974 to 1998, and the Hancock wears its X-braces on the outside.
UPTOWN JAZZ. The Green Mill has poured drinks since 1907. Al Capone favoured the booth with a view of both doors, and the poetry slam was born there in 1986.
THE LOOP. Downtown's name is a circuit: the elevated tracks that ring it were joined into the Union Loop in 1897, and cable cars had looped the same streets since 1882.
UPTOWN. The Uptown opened in 1925 with 4,381 seats, still the most in Chicago, and has been dark since 1981. Its neighbours keep the block lit: the Aragon Ballroom under its painted night sky, and the Riviera.
How they are made
Giclée on Hahnemühle papers. Frames are solid wood from sustainable sources. Every print is numbered and comes with a Certificate of Authenticity.
Shipping & returns
Every print is made to order and ships within 3–7 business days, tracked. Delivery takes about 3–7 business days in the US and 7–21 international; duties and taxes on international orders are the buyer’s.
Because each print is made for you, all sales are final. If yours arrives damaged or wrong, email support@pauloctavious.com within 30 days with photos and we will replace it.