Friday, April 16, 2010

Paul Stanley: Family Man, Artist & RockStar


PAUL STANLEY TALKS ABOUT ART AND THE POSSIBILITY OF DOING ANOTHER KISS ALBUM
News Source: TV.com
By: Cindy Elavsky/Celebrity Extra
Excerpts

Celebrity Extra: Thank you so much for talking with me. I'll get right into it so you can start your morning.
Paul Stanley: My morning starts when my 3-and-a-half-year-old walks in the room.

CE: That's true. I'm thinking about the rock-star lifestyle, but you're actually a family man as well.
PS: I am a family man and a rock star.


CE: I think it is going to come a surprise to a lot of your fans that you are such a great artist. You fairly recently started showing and selling your artwork to the public — what made you decide to share it with the masses?

"Crossroads" by Paul Stanley

PS: I've been doing it for quite a few years now. I started painting 10 years ago really as a way of finding another creative outlet. I'm always looking for another way to express myself, and that's how I attempted to find myself. So whether it was doing Phantom of the Opera or painting or doing what I do in KISS, they're all ways for me to emote stay creative. That's who I am, that's what's in my blood. I originally painted with no expectations of ever doing a show or of ever showing anybody my art. It came about because I hung the piece in my house, and people kept saying, "Who did that painting?" And funny because I wasn't very secure or confident in my ability, I never signed it. To this day that piece isn't signed, but it gave me food for thought, because people seem to connect so much with it that I got talked into doing a show. At this point I've been averaging probably anywhere from 12 to 15 shows a year around the county, and they've been amazingly successful in a way that quite honestly leaves me speechless.


CE: Fans were thrilled that you released Sonic Boom back in October. Am I jumping the gun, but can we expect another KISS album within the next few years?
PS: Making that album was so much fun, and it reinvigorated and restated everything that we are that yeah, I think that we'll see another album.


CE: What do you like best about when you tour with your artwork and when you get to interact with the public?
PS: I think it's terrific to connect with the people who have made you who you are, made your life possible. I never became famous to cut myself off from the people who made me famous. But, the great thing about art is that I think anybody who appreciates somebody's work gets so much more out of meeting the person and getting a sense of what's behind the piece. Ultimately what's most important is that you have your own sense of what a piece means because you're taking it home. Much in the same way that I believe that life and theater are, unfortunately, intimidating to people because there are critics whose livelihood depends upon convincing you that you need them to tell you what's good. And I try to break through that because whether or not someone else likes what you like is irrelevant. If you're a vegetarian, what difference does it make that somebody else loves steak. So that being said, I guess I'm out there trying to not only show people who are collectors of serious pieces, I'm also trying to show people who have never been in a gallery how much art has to offer. I'm a big believer that whether you're living in a van or a villa, art would look great on your wall. So, you don't need a degree to have an opinion, and you don't need an education to know what you like. You don't need to justify your taste, and it's enough that you like something. So, I try to get people to experience things that they wouldn't necessarily experience and also enjoy it.

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