Man charged in stabbing death of street artist

A Cook County judge has ordered a Chicago man held on $500,000 bond in the stabbing death of one of the city's best-known street artists.

Prosecutors filed first-degree murder charges Sunday against 24-year-old Kirk Tobolski, who allegedly stabbed 24-year-old Brendan Scanlon in the heart early Saturday morning.

Scanlon's parents in Wisconsin said their son worked for a Chicago graphic design and advertising firm.

But Scanlon was best known for the often enigmatic street art he stenciled onto such places as the backs of stop signs and the glass of newspaper boxes -- usually signed with the alias "SOLVE."

On one occasion he installed a television set in a rapid transit train. Its screen bore the stenciled message, "We are experiencing legal difficulties."