KISS frontman and co-founder Paul Stanley exhibited his original artwork at the Wentworth Gallery in Fort Lauderdale on Friday, February 9th.
The high-energy Stanley bounded into the shop just after 11 a.m. to greet members of the media to discuss his different artistic side. Stanley, who created the iconic KISS logo decades ago, has been painting and creating for about 18 years; he said he started during a particularly turbulent period in his personal life and it resonated with him.
It has certainly resonated with many others, because he now has a burgeoning side career as an artist! As he told me, he got into art as a way to escape the pressures of performing and touring relentlessly as the frontman of KISS. Now, after 15 years of showing his work, it's become a bit of a chore too. So he has pulled back until just now.
KISS frontman Paul Stanley posing in some of his pieces on display at the Wentworth Gallery in Fort Lauderdale.
His collection encompasses paintings as well as multi-media and acrylics. As with his music, Stanley puts his distinctive stamp on every piece. He says he began painting just for himself before friends began asking for reproductions of the original pieces he had hanging in his house. He has even sold an abstract of blues legend Robert Johnson to the legendary Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page-albeit a much larger piece than the pair that were available for purchase!
As he does with his music, Stanley promotes an everyman approach: good art is what you like. Bad art is what you don't. He uses vibrant colors and seems to capture energy with his expressive brush strokes in the abstracts. His use of color and light in his acrylics is striking. It's no wonder he also has such an ascending career in art.
Stanley and his bandmates in KISS (old and new) will be back in South Florida in late October for the 8th annual KISS KRUISE featuring the current lineup of the band, as well as former lead guitarist Ace Frehley and his current group, Frehley's Comet. Stanley will also be exhibiting his original pieces to the public on that event, which sets sail from Miami on Wednesday, October 31st.