Neenah art show will showcase celebrity portraits, pursuits by Ben Erickson

NEENAH — Artist Ben Erickson has been chasing star athletes, comedians and musicians for more than a decade.

He seeks them out at sports venues, comedy clubs, concerts, hotels and airports and gets their attention with an unusual calling card: a portrait of the star that he painted himself.

Erickson's approach is successful far more than not. About 75% of his 200 portraits have been autographed by the stars, including Olympic greats Michael Phelps and Simone Biles.

Knowing Biles would attend Green Bay Packers home games when her husband, Jonathan Owens, was a safety with the team last year, Erickson tracked down Biles at Green Bay Austin Straubel International Airport. He brought his painting of a joyful Biles in a USA leotard with a gold medal around her neck.

"She was very nice," Erickson told The Post-Crescent. "I told her I spent hours and hours painting it, and she thought it was cool, so she signed it."

The autographed Biles piece will be among the 40 to 50 portraits that Erickson will have on display at "Chasing Stars: Faces in Art," a free art show that will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday at the Ballroom at the Reserve, 116 S. Commercial St., in downtown Neenah.

The show will be hosted by Future Neenah . Tuesday's event will feature live music by Mary McCurdy.

Erickson, 31, will be present at the show to answer questions and talk about his artwork and his pursuit of autographs.

"Each piece has its own unique story," he said.

The paintings aren't for sale, but Erickson does accept commissions.

When The Post-Crescent featured Erickson in 2017 , he had painted 80 portraits of pro athletes and had 56 of them autographed.

Today, his collection has grown to 200 portraits, with 150 of them signed.

Famous people he has painted include Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Charles Barkley, Odell Beckham Jr., Barry Bonds, Ryan Braun, Drew Brees, Luke Combs, Steph Curry, John Daly, Kevin Durant, Brett Favre, Aaron Judge, Clayton Kershaw, Jordan Love, Post Malone, Aaron Rodgers, Jerry Seinfeld, Mike Trout, Dwyane Wade and Christian Yelich.

A Neenah native, Erickson works as a graphic designer at Pierce Manufacturing. His artwork is on display around Neenah, including:

• Produce and music paintings on the doors of the Shattuck Park pavilion.

• "This is my Happy Place" butterfly mural at Batley's Grill & Bar at 1010 Cameron Way.

• Cre8lab mural at 1131 S. Commercial St.

• Four wildlife paintings at Coolidge Elementary School. The paintings were mounted on the outside of the Washington Park shelter , but they didn't hold up in the weather, so they were refurbished and moved inside to the multipurpose room at Coolidge.

• "Deja-moo" painted bench on Main Street by Plexus Corp.'s Neenah Design Center.

Contact Duke Behnke at 920-993-7176 or  dbehnke@gannett.com . Follow him on Twitter at  @DukeBehnke .

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Simone Biles portrait among those to be showcased at Neenah art show