×Jacob Ryan Reno, tall 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 became pretty popular in Chicago for his drawings, yet … he’s so bad at it.

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, even more straight-faced, she mentioned she is an “art enthusiast.”

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