Sachio Yamashita (1933–2009) was a Japanese-American artist primarily known as the creator of more than 100 public murals throughout the Midwest between 1968 and 1982, and later as an abstract painter and muralist in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Enlisting volunteers from the neighborhood, Yamashita painted his "Rainbow" mural (1969), which covered the front and side exterior walls of its one-story storefront building.
For example, he painted the exterior of Chicago's famed Billy Goat's Tavern, located at 430 North Michigan Ave, in thin rainbow stripes after agreeing to produce the mural in exchange for beer and food.
In addition to his stated goal of transforming Chicago's urban landscape with color, he proposed converting the city's elevated train tracks into sprawling bike paths.
[15] One of his most well-known murals is based on a Japanese woodblock print by ukiyo-e artist Hiroshige depicting Mount Fuji and massive waves, which he painted on the facade of a three story hardware store at the corner of North Avenue and Wieland Street.
His celebrated super graphic work "Balance of Power," which was located along lower Wacker Drive, appears as the backdrop in a portion of the iconic final car chase scene in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers.
Profiles in Time and People magazines in the mid 1970s in addition to regular coverage of his work in the Chicago Tribune and other regional newspapers inspired more municipalities and businesses to commission Yamashita for murals across the Midwest.
Working with a local team, Yamashita painted a rainbow colored whale on the southern wall and a corresponding hardedge pattern on the eastern side of the aquatic center building.
While Yamashita was a widely popular public artist in the Midwest, many of his murals later suffered at the hands of developers who painted over or covered his designs in the process of renovations or expansions.
"Golden Wave" was inspired by the surrounding Kansas landscape and depicted an abstracted scene of wheat fields and grain elevators under a vivid blue sky and radiant sun.
[20] Yamashita's residency also included his participation in the town's annual Smoky Hill River Festival, during which he painted a giant abstract sunflower on a municipal pool turned ice skating rink in Oakdale Park.