PAUL STANLEY: 'I Have Been Humbled And Staggered By The Acceptance Of My Art'

January 3, 2008

Belinda Goldsmith of Reuters recently conducted an interview with KISS guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Q: Your art has become quite a business, selling for $2 million last year?

Stanley: "It is incredible. For me the dollar figure is more of an acknowledgment of how people are embracing the art. If I became enamored or taken with the number I think it would take away from the creative spirit or what I am doing. The fact I started this phase of my life in art as a very personal and solitary pursuit has borne success because of its integrity."

Q: Have you been surprising by the reaction to your art?

Stanley: "Totally. I have been humbled and staggered by the acceptance of my art. I started it as something therapeutic and cathartic for me without the intention of ever showing anything but from the first time I hung a piece in my house people were drawn to it."

Q: Is it addictive?

Stanley: "Very much so. Not to minimize the pursuit of art but in the same way as going to the gym makes you feel good, you find yourself craving it. I had my left rotator cuff replaced a few weeks ago and my concern at that point was not if I could play guitar but if I could still paint."

Q: How do balance your art with your music?

Stanley: "I don't bring paint brushes on the stage and I don't bring a guitar into the studio. You can compartmentalize and prioritize and there is time for everything."

Q: Some of your paintings feature the KISS faces in their well-known make-up. Are those the top sellers?

Stanley: "I did the four portraits of the band as a tip of the hat to our fans and believed they would be extremely popular. I have to say I found it really gratifying that those pieces are probably the least popular. I think it is great. It shows that the people acquiring the art are not acquiring it because of its KISS content. That kind of blind adulation would be money poorly spent as far as I am concerned."

Read the entire interview at www.reuters.com.

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