#33 Brian

Yo,

In March of 2009 I flew from Chicago to NYC to interview graffiti writer Greg Lamarche, aka SP.ONE.

While I was in town I met up with some friends and was introduced to Brian Willette. He asked me what brought me to NYC (he was also from Chicago), I told him about my interview.

Willette (no one I knew called him Brian) flipped his iPhone over to show me his screensaver—it was an SP.ONE collage. We hit it off from that moment on.

Willette didn’t sleep much; he was always up, always loaded with energy, always ready to meet. He was technically a Creative Director working on marketing campaigns, but he often had other projects going on, was interested in photography, design, and meeting new people.

Self-portrait by Brian Willette.

We met up at events and parties. He was in recovery, and I often heard him use the line “I’m allergic, I break out in handcuffs,” when people asked why he didn’t drink alcohol.

In November that year Willette’s Mom passed away from lung cancer. I didn’t realize at the time the impact it would come to have on him.