Ben Wilson lies prone to paint flattened
gobs of chewing gum.
MUSWELL HILL, England — When first exposed to the art of Ben Wilson, or to Mr. Wilson in
the act of creating it, people tend to respond with some degree of puzzlement.
"When I first saw one, I thought it was a fruit
sticker," said Matt Brasier, who was walking through this north London suburb
the other day.
A woman named Vassiliki, who was passing by, said that
when she came upon Mr. Wilson, prone and seemingly inert on the sidewalk, "I
thought he wasn't very well." She added: "I was like, ‘What is he doing?' And
they told me: ‘He's painting the chewing gum.' "
Ben Wilson's underfoot art.
That is exactly what he was doing. Mr. Wilson, 47, one
of Britain's best-known outsider artists, has for the last six years or so
immersed himself in a peculiar passion all his own: he paints tiny pictures on
flattened blobs of discarded chewing gum on the sidewalks of London. So
familiar is he here, painting in any kind of weather, that he has become
something of a local celebrity and mascot.
"He brings a lot of joy to a lot of people," said
Peter Kyriacou, who owns the local Snappy Snaps photography store, which has a
number of Wilson works out front.