Wesley Willis Art

How to post a Wesley Willis art photo

The internet is flooded with musical Wesley Willis objects, but there is a paucity of proof that he created a huge body of visual art-- mainly citiscapes on posterboard using markers and pens.

The purpose of this site is to propagate the reputation of Wesley Willis as a visual artist. The way we'll do it is just quietly build a library of his work, so that when browsers search for him, they'll be presented this art legacy. Here are the general principles:

• You are welcome to post photos of Wesley Willis art. Normal rules of being cool on the internet apply here. If you don't know what they are, you probably wouldn't be interested in this site anyway
• Post photos in the largest resolutions possible, so that we can see the detail of each piece. Actual instructions for uploading appear below
• Most Wesley Willis art has a discernible title that on it, and it's usually related to the location of the subject matter. Try to make the post title the title of the art
• Describe, if you like, how you came to be in possession of the photo (or the art itself)
• Any links in the post are appreciated

Here are instructions for posting:

• Make sure you have any popup blocking software is disabled for the popup site--it uses popups quite a bit
• There are two choices: you can login as the Guest Poster (user: Guest Poster / pass: Guest) or you can send me an email for Author status and post as yourself
• Either way, once you login, go to the Wesley Willis Art posting page at https://www.typepad.com/t/app/weblog/manage?blog_id=14993
• Click "Create a new post" from the right menu
• Click "Upload File" from submenu just below the "Manage" and "Post" tabs
• Click the "Choose File" button and grab the photo (.jpg, hopefully)
• Click "Upload File"
• Leave the "Create a new post for this uploaded file" radio button selected
• If your image is more than 400 pixels wide, click the "Create a thumbnail for this image" checkbox
  • If your image is less than 400 pixels wide, move on to the next step by clicking the "Embedded Image" button
• If your image is more than 400 pixels wide, change the number in the "Width" box to 400
• Keep the "Constrain proportions" checkbox checked
• Click the "Embedded Image" button
• The popup window closes and the "Compose A New Post" page shows up again, this time with the necessary HTML to post the photo
• Click in the "Post Body" box and put the cursor at the end of the HTML in the box
• Hit the RETURN key on your keyboard twice and type your stuff. Put in as much of this information as possible:
  • TITLE? ex: "It's the Dan Ryan Expressway 1996"
  • YEAR? (if unsure then guess as close as possible & note that it's a guess)
  • SIZE? (unframed) MEDIUM? ex: colored marker and pencil on poster board
    • Extra info - good if available:
  • OWNERSHIP HISTORY? ex: purchased directly from artist, Chicago
  • EXHIBITION & LITERATURE? If you know the piece was in an art exhibition or was published in a book, magazine, etc., please note it.
• When you're done, hit the Save button and you're done

Oak Street Beach/ Playboy Building

Here's a pretty good one (sorry the resolution is so small-- I will replace it with a better pic) of Oak Street Beach with the Playboy sign in the background, dating it to the late 80s.

The Limelight, 1987

This one is a pretty early, mainly ball point-pen drawing that is cool for a number of reasons. Almost everything rendered in the piece is either gone or changed (The legendary Limelight is some cheeseball tourist trap, the American Medical Association building is abandoned for a new one a block away, Morrie Mages is now Sportmart, and so on).

That's one of the great things about an artist who works to render in the real world: Wesley Willis shows a moment in time, showing the things that we often consider to be permanent (bricks and brands) and allowing us to see the context years later.

Shoreline/ Sears Tower Lobby, 1998

Here's one from 1998, after his music breakout. It's interesting because it has his kind-of standard shoreline on the left. Judging from the placement of the buildings, this part wasn't done in person, but by memory.

But in the lower right is a image of the Sears Tower lobby, with an emphasis on the huge Alexander Calder sculpture, "The Universe"

Why does this site exist?

Lots of people know who Wesley Willis was. Many people were touched by him as a musical artist. But in the mid-90s craze to see Wesley as an alternative rock star, his importance as a visual artist was lost. This site is about Welsey Willis the artist. The creator of intense, accurate, and detailed pleine aire renderings of cityscapes in one of the greatest architectural cities in the world, Chicago.

If you have a work of art by Welsey Willis, please upload it here.