I sat next to Brian Wells at the Rainbo Club for many years before I knew he was a painter. Wells is quiet and unassuming. When he talks, it’s deliberate: he pauses to think before he speaks. We often sat together and barely exchanged a word. Occasionally I’d overhear him talking about construction or carpentry jobs. But one day he complimented one of my paintings, which was hanging behind the Rainbo’s stage, and mentioned in passing that he was a painter as well.
Wells moved to Chicago in 1984 after getting his MFA in painting from the University of Kentucky in Lexington. He thought he’d have a big-city art career. “I was moving to this metropolis . . . I wanted to be where the action was. [That impulse] went away after a few months.” He started working on big construction crews to pay his rent, but he kept painting. He leased a studio at the corner of Churchill and Leavitt, in pregentrification Wicker Park, but he refused to participate in neighborhood art events like Around the Coyote. “Every time I’ve done open studio, somebody says, ‘You’re gonna make $400-$500.’ I’ve never sold a single thing from open studios.”
Wells and his wife talk about leaving the city someday. “If I have a patch of time, I’d do landscape,” he says. “Barb and I talk about moving to Kentucky and living cheaper.” His wife reminds him she doesn’t want to be saddled with a house full of his artwork once he’s gone. This is a very real concern for any artist who has toiled away for decades. Unless one has gallery representation or some sort of institutional affiliation, there’s a real danger of a life’s work disappearing. “They say most of it just gets thrown out.”
9/1-9/30: Wed-Fri 4 PM-2 AM, Sat 4 PM-3 AM, Sun-Tue 4 PM-2 AM, Rainbo Club, 1150 N. Damen, 773-489-5999, brianwellsart.com . F
