Terrible Chicago artist paints worst portrait, gains fans

Jacob Ryan Reno, long and boyish, wearing the kind of blue smock you imagine a painter would wear in a cartoon about a painter, is not good at his job. He draws and has become pretty popular in Chicago for those drawings. Yet ... he's so bad at it.

- Christopher Borrelli, Tribune News Service

Jacob Ryan Reno

So bad he inspires a perverse confidence in that lack of talent, partly because he warns everyone with a sheepish smile that he's not very good. When I asked a woman in Logan Square why she was waiting for Reno to draw her portrait, despite knowing his skills were questionable, she replied, with irony: "He must be talented if there's a line."

She added, "I mean, what if he becomes famous someday?"

Then she mentioned, even more straight-faced this time, that she was an "art enthusiast." And Reno, for sure, is an artist, a young Chicago one, just 26, and all that entails, doing a little this, a little that, living in Logan Square. Some acting, some performance art, a bit of stand-up, waiting tables. He radiates a rangy energy. He's thrilled to be creating anything. Maybe you know the type.

Three months ago, he had an idea that he would take a folding table to the Sunday farmers market in Logan Square and draw portraits, for $5 a pop. But with a twist. He announced his services with a handprinted sign:"Terrible Portraits. 5 Terrible Minutes."

Since that Sunday in May, he's drawn 600 or so portraits, and become so popular via social media that he's been getting requests from a number of famous faces. Questlove wants one.