Courtesy of the Artist's Official Website:

"Willy Heeks, born in 1951, has gained a national reputation, exhibiting in New York, Los Angeles, and throughout the United States. He received his BFA from the University of Rhode Island in Kingston in 1973, attended the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program that same year and in 1977 he received his MFA from the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, PA. His work has been acquired by the Peabody-in-Essex Museum (Salem, MA), Museum of Contemporary Art, (Detroit, MI), and the Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, OH). His work is also in the collections of the Portland Art Museum (Portland, OR), Brooklyn Museum of Art (New York, NY), Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington, DC), Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY) and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (San Francisco, CA)".

Patti and Coop Cooprider were embracing the San Diego Arts Community upon arrival from Germany. One contact and friend they made early on is Scott White. Owning SOMA at the time, Scott helped the Coopriders acquire "Marker" by Willy Heeks in 1994. Scott represented Heeks at the time and the Coopriders had seen the article shown above in "Night and Day" in 1993 and attended several of the exhibitions hosted by Scott White. Scott is a founding member of the San Diego Art Dealers Association.

For more about the artist: Willy_Heeks