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Helmut Jahn's State of Illinois Building is in a state of disrepair. Chicago Tribune architectural columnist Blair Kamin points to rusted columns, chipped paint, and duct tape holding faded carpets together.  There is also the smell of fast food grease wafting through the atrium from the food court on the lower level.  All of this mirrors the State of Illinois' budget crisis, which will continue to plague the state despite the band-aid tax increase signed into law ten days ago by Governor Bruce Rauner.

Unfortunately, but appropriately, Jean Dubuffet's Monument with Standing Beast, which is located at the building's  southeast corner, is in similar disrepair.  The 10-ton sculpture has faded in parts from white to cigarette-finger yellow.  It appears to be chipped, with parts of it covered in graffiti, which serves as another example of why we can't have nice things.