Signature play a winner
Artist lands superstars’ autographs on portraits
WHITEFISH BAY - Ben Erickson has found a way to stand out among the throngs of fans seeking autographs of professional athletes.
Among the collectors gathered outside hotels and sporting venues in hopes that superstars like Aaron Rodgers or Steph Curry will sign their glossy photographs or trading cards, Erickson holds up 16-by-20-inch portraits of the athletes that he’s painted himself.
“I’m sure it gets boring signing the same photo hundreds of times,” Erickson said. “I thought, if I do these portraits — original artwork that they’ve never seen — it might get their attention.”
In the past four years, Erickson has painted 80 portraits of pro athletes. Of the 72 he’s shown to the athletes, 56 have been signed.
Famous athletes who have autographed his artwork include Rodgers, Curry, Clay Matthews, Adrian Peterson, Odell Beckham Jr., Drew Brees, Andrew Luck, Larry Fitzgerald, Dez Bryant, Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzki, Carmelo Anthony, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Ryan Braun and Mike Trout.
After getting his portraits signed, Erickson hangs the paintings at his apartment in Whitefish Bay.
Erickson has been approached by people offering to buy his paintings, but they’re not for sale.
“I keep them,” he said. “Two walls in my apartment are covered with them.”
Erickson, 23, was a three-sport athlete at Neenah High School, playing volleyball, basketball and baseball before graduating in 2011. He earned a bachelor’s degree in graphic design at St. Norbert College in De Pere in 2015 and works as a graphic designer for Boelter Brands in Glendale.
His interest in collecting stems from his childhood in Neenah. He and his brother received sports trading cards as gifts for birthdays and Christmas. And their father, Jim, used to take them to an Appleton hotel, where Green Bay Packers opponents often stayed, to get them autographed.
Erickson models his portraits from photographs and paints with acrylics on canvas. Each portrait takes about 10 hours to complete.
Erickson’s three most cherished autographs are Rodgers, Curry and Beckham.
His portrait of Beckham is three times the size of his other paintings. He brought it to the hotel when the New York Giants were in Appleton before their Oct. 9 game against the Packers.
He was unsuccessful on the first try as the players boarded the team bus amid a crowd of fans. But he finally got it, with a little help from his mom, Tami, who struck up a conversation with Beckham’s mother, Heather Van Norman, outside Lambeau Field, while carrying her son’s painting of him.
“While we’re talking, she’s actually texting Odell on her phone, saying, ‘Hey, there’s this kid here who’s done this painting of you. Is there any way you can sign it?’ ” Erickson said.
When Beckham came out, Van Norman took the painting to him to sign.
“That was one of the coolest experiences,” Erickson said. “Every autograph has a story.”
Erickson has obtained all of his autographs in Wisconsin. He charts which visiting teams and players will be coming to Appleton, Green Bay or Milwaukee before putting his brush to canvas.
The process to land an autograph requires patience, persistence and a bit of ingenuity, such as wearing a star athlete’s jersey. It typically takes Erickson one or two days to get a signature, but he waited several years before Rodgers signed.
“It’s all worth it in the end if you get the signature,” he said.