LaSalle Artist Is Forging A Unique Niche For Himself As An Artist-For-Hire Among Professional Athletes
Story by Matthew St. Amand
Photography by Jesse Hebert
A picture is worth a thousand words. Although the paintings of LaSalle artist Eric Faraci convey that much and more, it was, ironically, his words that cut the first swath in the singular career path he and his artwork now travel.
It began in 2016. Eric was a second year Visual Arts student at the University of Windsor.
“For one of my projects, I painted an action scene of Luke Willson,” Eric says, referring to the LaSalle native and professional football player who was part of the Seattle Seahawks team that won the Super Bowl in 2013.
On a whim, Eric sent an image of the painting to Luke on social media.
“I didn’t have a lot of confidence and just threw it out there, wondering if Luke would even see it.”
Indeed, Luke Willson saw the image.
“The next thing I knew, Luke posted it on his account,” Eric says.
Soon after, Luke commissioned a painting.
Eric recalls, “He sent me a picture of himself and two other Seattle Seahawks players, with the words: ‘techno time.’”
To anyone outside of the creative headspace, that might not be much to go on. It was all Eric needed.
“It was surreal—here was this Super Bowl-winning NFL player who grew up three streets from where I grew up in LaSalle, connecting with me, asking me to paint something for him,” Eric says. “When he commissioned the ‘techno time’ piece, I really felt that was my ‘prove it’ moment.”
Eric created the painting and the muses were with him every step of the way.
“I interpreted ‘techno’ with very bold colours,” Eric says. “I finished the piece and arranged to meet up with Luke to present it to him the next time he was home.”
Luke loved the painting and posted an image of it online. He also commissioned another painting from Eric.
“He messaged me, saying: ‘I want Venom. Dark s*** bro,’” Eric recalls (Venom is a supervillain in the Spider-Man universe).
Luke loved the Venom piece and posted an image of it online, as well.
“After finishing that second commission for Luke, I thought, ‘I’m ready,’” Eric says and decided it was time to leave school to pursue painting full-time.
“I began messaging other NFL players online, pitching my services.”
Achieving initial, modest success with one’s art brings a delicate balance of burgeoning confidence and the inevitable tremors of doubt: “Was I just lucky that time?” the creeping inner voice asks. “Can I do it again?”
“I sent messages to fifty or sixty NFL players a day after that,” he says. “I sent out hundreds and got no reply.”
And then one rolled in.
It was from a Tampa Bay Buccaneers line backer, NFL Rookie of the Year and recent Super Bowl winner, Lavonte David, who wrote: “I was looking for an artist.”
Regarding the samples of his art that Eric sent with his message, Lavonte commented: “This should work.”
He sent Eric a photograph of himself running onto the playing field toward a wall of his teammates, their hands extended for high-fives.
“Lavonte gave me complete creative control,” Eric says.
Freedom can be exhilarating and it can be terrifying at the same time. One has the freedom to execute a unique vision or to fail in spectacular fashion. Creating authentic work requires risks. Eric doesn’t think twice about it. He has one mode: paint.
Lavonte loved the painting Eric created—a four-by-five-foot dream-like rendering that was especially unique because the subject of the painting has his back to the viewer. It works.
After Lavonte posted a picture of the painting online, Eric was the one receiving numerous direct messages on Instagram. He had achieved recognition with his completely unplanned career trajectory.
This was soon followed by commissions from Toronto Raptors forward Gradey Dick and Los Angeles Chargers line backer Shaq Quarterman. Following that, Philadelphia 76ers center, Andre Drummond, invited Eric to come and paint in his home in the United States—details for this are still being worked out.
Derek Henry, running back for the Baltimore Ravens ordered a painting from Eric. He wrote: “I want Kobe… young,” referring to the late great Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard, Kobe Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash in 2020.
Darnell Mooney, a wide receiver for the Atlanta Falcons, commissioned four paintings: portraits of mixed martial arts fighter Connor McGregor, singer Lauren Hill, Darnell’s father, and the Joker from Batman.
“A lot of NFL players really like the Joker,” Eric says.
In 2021, feeling like he and his work should have some kind of moniker, Eric created Nonsense Branding. He also moved to Toronto.
“I felt that if I were American, I would have gone to NYC or California after reading where artists tend to grow the most,” he explains. “So, Toronto felt like the equivalent in Canada. I was curious about new surroundings and a bigger market to push my work. I ended up staying for three years.”
A week after returning to LaSalle, Eric was commissioned to paint an entire wall of 1801 Wyandotte Street East. The work is a larger scale of what Eric achieves on canvas: “Expectedly unexpected” as one of his friends described it. A mash-up of sports teams’ logos, including the Windsor Spitfires, Detroit Tigers, The Red Wings and the Toronto Blue Jays. The images are rendered as though torn from magazine pages. The images are so precise it looks as though Eric ran the side of the building through a printer.
Although Eric gives no indication of suffering “painter’s block” or other types of creative crises, he never takes his work for granted. Sometimes the brush strokes don’t come easily.
Eric painted a pair of family portraits for Calvin Ridley, wide receiver for the Tennessee Titans. “Sometimes, as easy as this job sounds, there are moments when the success of a painting—no matter how large—comes down to a few brush strokes. Especially when I am painting someone’s family members. Two or three brush strokes can either attain the likeness or miss it completely.”
“Man plans and the gods laugh,” goes the old expression.
Eric Faraci does not plan. He moves forward with his work one DM at a time, one brush stroke at a time. And so far, it is working for him. Learn more about Eric and his work at nonsensedesigner.com and www.instagram.com/ericfaraci.
Published in the Your Place Or Mine? 2026 Edition.
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