Wesley Willis Art

Dan Ryan 1988

Here's a new early Dan Ryan piece from eBay seller patterson770, who consistently lists high-quality early pieces. Here's his description-- with good insights into the detail and quality that makes for a good Wesley Willis art piece:

AN EARLY 1988 WORK HAND DRAWN AND COLORED SIGNED BY WESLEY WILLIS.THIS IS AN ORIGINAL piece of his art work SIGNED BY WESLEY AND DATED 1988..IT MEASURES..40X28 inches..and is done on HIS USUAL heavy art poster board. HE WRITES UNDER HIS NAME, THE DAN RYAN EXPRESSWAY POST 39 TOWARD 35TH STREET 1988...THIS IS HIS MOST SOUGHT AFTER IMAGE....THE DETAIL IS UNBELIEVABLE... HIS SIGNATURE IS TINE.. IN THE CLOUDS...AND THE DETAILS FROM THE MODEL OF THE CARS..TO THE TRAIN CARS TO THE SEARS TOWER OR THE HANCOCK BUILDING.... I COUNTED 70+ CARS AND SOME OF THE PUBLIC HOUSING BUILDINGS ARE NOW GONE.... THE BUS..THE ADVERTISING.. ALL OF THIS IS EARLY DETAIL DETAILED WESLEY WILLIS...

UPDATE: Sold for $685, 5 day auction, 10 bidders

Rare Wesley Willis Drawing of Single Family Home

Here's a rare neighborhod Wedley Willis drawing of a single family home called "White House on the North Side". It's on sale at eBay right now. I've never seen one like this. If anyone has more, please post!

Here is the seller's story, which he sent to me by email:

To understand how I met Wesley Willis, you have to understand who I was. Between the beginning of the 1970’ through the 1980’s, Chicago experienced the biggest building boom in its history. I was there for most of this boom with my coffee truck, Dan’s Coffee Cup. Yes, those who worked on the jobsites and those working downtown will remember that golden cab, silver body coffee truck that was there at the jobsites for that all important coffee break between 9:00 and 10:15 AM. And I might add, I served the best cup of coffee in Chicago…..

I really don’t recall exactly which jobsite I was at either downtown or on the near north side, but I seem to recall that Wesley came by from time to time, to hang out and look at the jobsites. It seems to me, he was always carrying his magic markers and cardboard canvas and drawing some of the building downtown. I am sure that I saw him around and that we shot the bull once in a while before he asked me if I wanted my house drawn by him.

He was a pretty loud and boisterous fellow and was very friendly to my customers and me, so I agree to meet him after my noon stop (the end of my day) and take him to my house. He spent about one-hour drawing the house as I left him alone in front with a lawn chair and a coke. While his artwork is not what you would call refined, it was bold and brassy. I felt at that time that there was something special about his art.

I am sure that I saw him after the day of the drawing, but that fall of 1990 was the end of my career as Coffee Dan. I was arrested for parking by the IC train station and with Daley in power in Chicago it was time to move on. You see, when you are in the food business, they (the powers to be) can just about shut you down when ever they want. Plus adding the fact that I ran for Congress in the 11th District in the Republican Primary in 1984 and I ran for Alderman in the 45th Ward in 1987, I really had no friends in City Hall. I had started producing a public access television show in 1986, THE OTHER SIDE, to promote Republican candidates. After fifty shows, I changed my direction and went back to my first love, motorcycle racing, and started producing, TEAM CHICAGO CHALLENGE. To date, I have produced over 900 shows and my show can be seen on Channel 19 on Wednesday nights at 7:30 PM.

So you see, after my retirement from the great times as Coffee Dan, I wasn’t downtown everyday and I don’t think I ever saw Wesley Willis again.

Dan
www.teamchicago.tv

 

Here's the home:

Here are pics of the art:

UPDATE: Did not sell (starting bid of $1,000)

UPDATE 2: eventually did sell at $1,000.

Run-of-the-mill 1993 Wesley Willis "The Shoreline"

Here, just for the sake of reference, is a very standard shoreline drawing by Wesley Willis. I'm surprised this is as early as 1993, because most of these are from the mid-to-late 90s when he became a rock star and started phoning it in a bit. These are the types of drawings that start with a nondescript building, then the John Hancock, then some Michigan Avenue buildings, then the Sears Tower poking over (almost invariably) a bush/ tree, then a set of 4 buildings or, in this case, four bush/trees. I'm pretty sure he did these from memory. This is, in my opinion, an example of that. Not his finest work.

Columbus Drive Horse Sculpture at Michigan Avenue

Here's a look at a very rare perspective piece from Wesley Willis. It is on sale right now at Ebay.
The cool thing is the perspective-- with a near object (the horse sculpture at Columbus Drive) and the far cityscape (Michigan Avenue).

Here's how the seller, patterson770, describes it:

AN EARLY 1986 WORK HAND DRAWN AND COLORED SIGNED BY WESLEY WILLIS.THIS IS AN ORIGINAL piece of his art work SIGNED BY WESLEY AND DATED 1986..IT MEASURES..40X28 inches..and is done on HIS USUAL heavy art poster board. IT IS MICHIGAN AVE... SOUTH OF THE RIVER.. IN GRANT PARK..AT FIRST I COULD NOT DETERMINE WHAT PERSPECTIVE HE HAD TAKEN AND WHAT THE LARGE FIGURE AT THE RIGHT WAS... I WENT DOWN TO GRANT PARK... IT WAS NOT A LION AT THE ART INSTITUTE TOO FAR NORTH..I WALKED DOWN TO THE ESSEX INN CROSSED THE STREET AND WALKED....THERE IT WAS... A GIGANTIC STATUE OF A HORSE AND A RIDER... I STOOD AT ITS SIDE AND SAW THE EXACT PERSPECTIVE WESLEY HAD... THE HORSE'S HEAD DIPPED A BIT AND NOW YOU CAN SEE THE RIDE'S FOOT ... WESLEY WAS ON A HILL AND PAINTED WHAT HE SAW... LOTS OF TREES AND THE EXACT IMAGE... A LITTLE BIT OF THE HIGHWAY GOING INTO MICHIGAN AVE UNDER THE HORSE... MICHIGAN AVE TURNING... THE SEARS TOWER BUILDING... MICHIGAN AVE BY THE HILTON HOTEL....WESLEY SAW ALL THE TREES AND CIVILIZATION PEEKING THROUGH AND HE DID NOT ALTER THAT IMAGE..WESLEY ALWAYS TRUE TO THE REALITY HE SAW,,, ALSO VERY RARE.... AN ANIMAL IN HIS PAINTING....

UPDATE: Sold for $411, 9 bids