thebeanartgallery.com

The Bean Art Gallery is not an art gallery. It is a website devoted to the original oil paintings of William (Bill) Gram. I paint live regularly on the street, currently 100 feet south of the Art Institute of Chicago most weekends and many weekdays while the weather is good. Most who have my card discovered me while walking down the street so you know the wide range of styles I paint. While my style is realistic many of the objects I paint are abstract like The Bean, ballet dancers or the crowd at a Cubs game. On the street I sell directly to my customers and so avoid the huge markups at art galleries. I do not sell prints on canvas which look like original paintings but will fade with time. My paintings are all original oils with thick layers of paint and will last as long as the paintings in the Art Institute. Come out and watch me create. I can bring particular paintings from my website or paint them bigger or smaller at your request. Call or text me on my cell 773 557 9013 to make sure I am there. You can also contact me on my home phone 847 853 1880, email me at billgram2000@yahoo.com or visit my studio at 228 Maple, Wilmette,IL 60091 three blocks from the end of the purple line. Updated October,2011. Note that the number following the title of the painting is my photo ID number. To see a wider range of paintings and prices look at my facebook photos at William Gram.

Some of my paintings are created in the middle of a crowd such as the audience at the Grant Park Symphony performances, on a crowded sidewalk of viewers, or the Cub's playoff game painting found on the cityscape page. See the photo there of me painting. l call this gorilla plein air painting.
I studied at the Palette and Chisel and the Art Institute of Chicago and I am a member of the Plein Air Painters of Chicago, papchicago.com which was featured in the Feb 09 American Artist Magazine. I have been juried into the Hardy exhibition in Door County for several years.