Chester Alamo-Costello is an American artist, educator, historian, publisher and writer based in Chicago, Illinois. He is most known for his long-running international "Art Drop" series (1998 - Present), where he places art into non-traditional settings, such as public parks, and for his photographic books, whose work has been noted for its rawness and everyday immediacy.

Chester has been producing aesthetic Experiments designed to function in non-traditional exhibition settings since the early 1990s. He is currently developing Transitional Gestures 2014 - present. This is the 4th phase of inquiry in his ongoing research into how a simple gesture functions in this rapidly changing world. Since October 1998, a series of artworks have been produced and placed in the public domain for the casual passerby to find, keep, and respond to. The completed artworks contrast mundane street communications (e.g., corporate advertisements) and activist imagery (e.g., political graffiti) from various cities in Europe and the Americas. Previously, Chester produced New Street Agenda (Phase 3) between 2005 - 2013, Appleseed International (Phase 2) between 1999 - 2004; and Searching for Geomantrick (Phase 1) 1998; as part of this research. Since their inception, these photo-based social experiments have included site visits to 60 cities in 18 countries (including, Assisi, Italia; St. Petersburg, Russia; Liverpool, England; Anchorage, Alaska; etc.).

In Documents, Chester interacts with and catalogs a range of topics: Chicago’s underground music scene, comics and video gaming culture, family history, football (soccer) fandom and visual information that is found in public spaces (from hidden alleyways to heavily trafficked city streets ). In simplest form these efforts are based in lyrical investigations that combine cataloging, mapping, photographing, and producing observational drawings and writings. Through these efforts, Chester has published three books: Somewhere In-Between Chicago (2018), The Globe (2010), and Grandpa Danny (2008).

His projects and writings have been reviewed and published in  ABC Cultura (España), ARTnews, Brunchstory (Seoul, South Korea), The COMP Magazine, Darkroom Magazine, Fumetto Logica (Italia), Mid-Day Newspaper (India), The Globe Mail (Canada), MCA Magazine (Museum of Contemporary Art), National Public Radio’s 848 program, Public Art Review, Art Lies Magazine, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune Magazine, Time Out Chicago, El Periódico (España), the New Art Examiner, De Telegraaf Amsterdam (the Netherlands), The International Herald News (Ireland), Verve Magazine (England),  WGN – TV Chicago and other publications.

Chester Alamo-Costello received his Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) from John Herron School of Art in Indianapolis, IN, (1992) and his Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from Columbia College Chicago (1998). He resides in Chicago and is Professor of Art & Design at the University of St. Francis in Joliet, Illinois, and Sichuan University of Science and Engineering in Zigong, Sichuan, China.