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On Tap This Week: KISS Guitarist Displays ArtFrom: NewsDay.com Posted: January 1, 2008 He's a painter who believes in art's cathartic power, its ability to communicate with viewers and its uncanny habit of revealing hidden facets of the painter himself. "Pretty heady stuff for a rock and roller," he admits. The artist is PAUL STANLEY -- that's right, the guitarist from KISS. For much of his life, the only thing he painted was a black star over his right eye, but in recent years he's been putting brush to canvas and selling his works for as much as $60,000 apiece. He's appearing and exhibiting his work Friday and Saturday at the Wentworth Gallery at Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City. Stanley cites Mark Rothko and Pablo Picasso as influences but is quick to point out that he's no art expert. During a recent phone interview from his Beverly Hills home, he depicted himself as driven by pure self-expression rather than by any desire to be hung in the Met. "That's really what the arts are about," Stanley said. "It's about finding yourself and defining yourself." Encouraged by a friend, Stanley took up painting around 2001 while struggling through a painful divorce. "I guess it was more constructive than throwing things at the wall, including myself," he said. He hung his first work, titled "Green Planet," at home, too embarrassed to sign it. But visitors routinely inquired about it, so he kept working. To date, he has made portraits of his band mates (one, of bassist GENE SIMMONS, is titled "God of Thunder"), but also several abstract works with titles such as "Infinite Solitude" and "Starting Over." "I wanted to paint from the soul," Stanley said. "The more I could keep it as a journey without a map, the more I'd be pleased with where I wound up." Stanley routinely shows up at galleries where his work is displayed -- he does about 14 appearances a year -- which can mean fending off fans holding KISS albums and T-shirts to be signed. "It's the wrong place and the wrong time, and I don't do that," Stanley said. Still, he's aware that KISS is the reason his paintings are on display. "No doubt, who I am gets me a certain entree," he said. "My success in one field gets my foot in the door in another -- but you're free to slam the door on my foot." When & Where: PAUL STANLEY appears from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Wentworth Gallery in Roosevelt Field Mall, Garden City. Call 516-742-6100 or go to wentworthgallery.com. |
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