Kiss Star Paul Stanley Displays Artwork at Wentworth Gallery

By Anthony Birritteri, Editor-in-Chief On Apr 30, 2018

Rock ‘n’ roll all night and painting everyday – Kiss front man and co-founder Paul Stanley now has hundreds of his original paintings, mixed-media works, sculptures and limited-edition prints on permanent display at the eight Wentworth Gallery locations throughout the country, including the one at the Short Hills Mall and a gallery that will be located in the soon-to-open Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City.

Stanley was at the Short Hills gallery this past Saturday, personally meeting purchasers of his work and hundreds of Kiss fans.  New Jersey Business magazine had the opportunity to interview the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famer, along with Wentworth Gallery CEO Christian O’Mahoney, at New York’s Pierre Hotel this past Friday afternoon.

Stanley began seriously painting some 18 years ago, when a friend recommended that he pick up brushes and lay colors down on canvas in the aftermath of a divorce Stanley had just recently gone through. “Somehow, the idea resonated with me,” Stanley recalls. He describes those early painting experiences as being cathartic. “It was a means of purging and self-discovery,” he says.

He began hanging his paintings in his home,  though they were unsigned because Stanley was self-conscious about his work. However, friends began asking who the artist was of the various pieces.

“Ultimately, I was cajoled into showing in a gallery, and I was surprised at how many people began acquiring my work,” he says.

Stanley was never interested in taking formal painting lessons, but says he grew up knowing the works of many famed artists and masters, “from Picasso to Kandinsky, from Monet to Matisse, from Warhol to Basquiat. I certainly get a lot of inspiration from great artists, although I am not influenced by them.”

In describing his style, Stanley says he leans more towards impressionism, “but it’s a punk, bold impressionism.” His work is rather large, similar to his outlook on life. “My largest pieces to date have been four feet by five feet, and I just purchased a canvas that is even larger,” he says.

His medium is usually acrylic paints on canvas, but he also experiments with different surfaces, such as clear Plexiglas. Taking out his cell phone, he shows a completed round Plexiglas piece on which the backside and front side is painted, creating a three-dimensional effect.

Asked what gives him more satisfaction today, painting a good painting, or writing a good song, Stanley says he doesn’t spend much time writing songs these days. “The band doesn’t need new material to thrive, to tour or to sell out shows. Additionally, I find the singularity or the solitary pursuit of painting more gratifying at this point because it’s more immediate.” Stanley says he paints five days a week, usually starting at 9 a.m. and finishing at 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Kiss will be on tour throughout Spain and Portugal in July, and is reported to be planning a major tour starting at the end of January 2019. Asked if he will bring his painting materials on the road with him, he says, “I tend to separate the music and the art. It will be interesting to see when the next tour happens whether or not I [combine the two], but [painting] has become such a big part of my life.”

Wentworth’s O’Mahoney says Stanley’s work is incredible and that he has seen people walking through his galleries pass by the works of Chagall, for example, and go straight to Stanley’s art.

The family-owned gallery, which makes its home base in Florida, makes it a habit of bringing in talented celebrity artists to its locations to personally meet buyers.

“We don’t just sell the art, we sell the experience,” O’Mahoney says, explaining that, for example,  if someone who has visited Positano, Italy, then buys a landscape of the town, they are buying not just the painting, but the memories, feelings and actual experience of being there. The experience of meeting the artist is the same, he says. “The artist will come to the gallery and spend time with the collectors who purchase the work.”

Other celebrity artists the Wentworth Gallery carries include Ric Ocasek from The Cars, Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead, and Rick Allen from Def Leppard. He is hoping to have Michael Cartellone, drummer for Lynyrd Skynyrd, show at his gallery (he is highly recommended by Stanley, according to O’Mahoney).

Wentworth Gallery also shows artists who are known solely for their visual art undertakings. They include Peter Max, Charles Fazzino, Elena Bond, David Schulls, and Michael Godard. The gallery also carries the works of masters such as Chagall, Picasso, Pissaro, Matisse, Renoir and Miro.

The Wentworth Gallery at the Short Hills Mall has been at the location for some 30 years, and most of the company’s galleries are in high-end shopping malls. O’Mahoney says his mission is to make art accessible to everybody, adding that people don’t feel intimidated walking into a gallery at a mall versus a gallery in an arts district. “In the end,” he says, “good art is what you like, and bad art is what you don’t like. If anybody tells you differently, that is just their opinion.”

As for attempting to paint or pursuing other forms or art, Stanley advises that people follow their dreams and not sell themselves short because others are quick to criticize. “I think people need to explore their creative outlets and not be shackled down by any preconceived ideas,” he says.

Additionally, he says, “If you please yourself, you will eventually find an audience. To me, it’s the law of commonality. We have more in common with each other than our differences. Whether it’s painting or writing music, we will invariably find an audience.”

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