I am honored to have an interview to share with Midwestern Artist Fred Stonehouse.  If I execute a search on Brainboost.com with the query “who is Fred Stonehouse“? this is what the search engine kicks out.

“Fred Stonehouse is a Midwest regional artist who resides in Wisconsin. He received his BFA from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee in 1982. Although his art is representational, Stonehouses illogical settings and actions are reminiscent of Magic Realism , whose fantastical realities are associated with Latin American art and literature. In this regard, the indigenous art of pre - modern Mexico, Frida Kahlos Surrealist paintings , and the writings of the Columbian author Gabriel Garca Marquez were influential in Stonehouses formulation of his art.

Here’s a recent photo from 2006 and another from 2000 showing Fred Stonehouse with his paintings (you can click on both photos to get more detail).

    

But there’s a lot more to Fred Stonehouse and I crafted some questions that are hopefully different and bring out new information.

Me: How did you become interested in painting the “Spirit World“?

Fred: I grew up in a family that loved to tell ghost stories.  My mother is Sicilian, and her side of the family was very superstitious.  My Grandmother would talk about the “Evil Eye” and my great Aunt Rosalie was known for her psychic visions foretelling deaths including her own.  Between my family and the Catholic Church, I was convinced that we were surrounded by spirits; they were very real to me.

Me: Is there any tie in between common symbols in your paintings (ie: skulls, bees, birds) and events in your life?   Can you elaborate on the “Americana” symbolism in your work, (ie:what does the black devil with blue eyes mean)?

 Title: Dream of Babylon by Fred Stonehouse Size: 48 “w x 24″h Medium: Acrylic on Wood - Care of http://www.blabshow.com.

Fred: The symbols in my work are drawn from a multiplicity of sources, but they can be summed up as coming from the alchemical categories of: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. 

I was always interested in the hagiography that accompanied images of saints.  I was never quite sure what the symbols represented, but I knew they were there for a reason. For me, they suggested secret and mysterious powers and were akin to magic and voodoo.  It wasn’t important that I understood the specific meaning but that they represented an unknown mystery.  The black devil was done as a way to add something new to the traditional representation of the fiery red character.   I imagine that character as “burnt to a crisp” or perhaps as blackened, Cajun style.  Besides, black is so graphic and makes for a powerful and haunting image.

Me: Can you talk a little bit about your connection to Solid State Tattoo and do you create Tattoo art?   Noticed the logo of Solid State Tattoos looks like one of your paintings …was it?   Do you contribute to the online art of this site?

Fred: If this is the Solid State Tattoo of Milwaukee, the owner is a friend of mine and one of my paintings does hang in the shop.  I have designed and drawn all of my tattoos so far, but I do not tattoo.  John Reiter (the owner) tattooed both of my arms and I stop in there quite often as it is near my studio and just down the block from the Hi-Fi Café which is my favorite coffee shop. I haven’t seen the art on his website, but my work is very visible in Milwaukee and has influenced any number of younger artists.

Me:  How did you come to show your work in TheBlabShow?

Fred: Monte Beauchamp, the creative mind behind Blab, invited me to be included in his annual publication six or so years back and I have been in it every year since.  When Monte decided to start curating shows of Blab artists last year, he asked if I would be interested, and I thought it would be great to have my painting seen in that context in a gallery as well as in print.

Me: Of the 9 paintings of your work in BlabShow, 4 have Skulls as part of imagery – Does the Skull stand for something besides the obvious (Death)?    Two of the paintings have Skulls with Crowns while the other two don’t – is the crown represent the “King of Death“?

Title: Never Size: 12″w x 12″h Medium: Acrylic on Wood, care of Blabshow.com

Fred: I use the crown on figures other than the skulls, but I suppose it is meant to suggest a sort of supremacy.    I have always been interested in the way the Mexican Dias de los Muertos festivities represent death and skulls as being integrally tied to a sense of life and celebration.  I guess it’s the old ‘life is much sweeter on the eve of death’ kind of sentiment.

Me: How do you start a painting?  Do you know what you’re going to paint before hand or does it materialize as you paint?

Fred: I don’t pre-plan paintings and I’m pretty open to discovering the image in the process.  I start with an idea that the painting will have a certain ’tone’ more than anything too specific.

Me: What role does the Motorcycle culture play in your work and in your life? 

Fred:  I started riding motorcycles when I was 15 and rode until my wife grounded me after a pretty hairy crash in downtown Chicago left me with a concussion and a broken collar bone, but I do still have a bike in the garage in parts and have ideas all the time about riding again.  Bikes get into your blood and it’s hard to give it up.  I have a lot of friends that ride and collect and repair vintage motorcycles and I think it’s beautiful, but until my 14 year old son is grown, I think it’s probably four wheels for me.

Me: What role does the internet play in your work? (same question that I asked Joe Coleman)

Fred: It’s possible to see quite a lot of my work on the internet, but I have nothing to do with that.  I don’t have a website, though I probably should, and it scares me a little that so much stuff is out there that I have no control of.  I tried to talk my tech savvy son into helping me create a website, but he just rolled his eyes and proceeded to snipe a German soldier in the online game he was playing.

note: One way Fred Stonehouse could control some of his work on the internet is to have an official website and become part of the dialog and flow.

Me: What Artists do you admire the most?   Why?

Fred: I admire Philip Guston for the courage he showed late in his career to abandon what had made him a success and embark on those incredibly dumb and beautiful paintings.  He knew those painting would be seen as stupid, but he made them anyway and thank god, because they are the best things he ever made.  Too many artists worry about appearing dumb, so they try hard to make ‘smart’ work, and that is the surest way to make bad art.

Philip Guston - late work - “Brutal but delicate”: The Line - 1978

Me: There’s another “Fred Stonehouse” who wrote books about Lake Superior and Scuba Diving ” Lake Superior’s ” Shipwreck Coast “.  Do people ever ask you if you’re related ?

Fred: I am convinced that the other Fred Stonehouse is a relative.  My father is from the Upper Penninsula of Michigan and I believe that is where the Great Lakes researcher lives.  Somebody bought me his book on the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald as a joke.  There is another Fred Stonehouse who sells real-estate in the Sacramento area and his website has a really awful jingle that accompanies his homepage.

Me: Noticed you had a show at the Howard Scott gallery in Chelsea last year. Are you planning another show in New York anytime soon?  How did you find showing in NYC different than showing your work in other places in the country?

Fred: I will be showing 4 new drawings with Howard this December in his annual drawing exhibit.  Howard is also currently working on a show for me with a dealer in Berlin.  Without question, the New York audience is the most sophisticated due to their access to great museums, galleries, criticism etc.  Most of the people who are interested in what I do are pretty sharp cats anyway, but New Yorkers are the real deal.  They just get it.

Me: I love the dream like state your paintings evoke in your viewers – often your use of language seems cryptic and symbolic – can you tell me how you arrive at the words your going to use in your paintings?

Fred: I guess I am something of a frustrated poet.  Words just seem necessary sometimes, both visually and aurally.  I like the idea that when a viewer reads the text in one of my paintings a sound is created in their head.  It’s a way to broaden the experience and cram in a little extra content.  The words come about mostly as poetic reflections on the image.  

 ========= END of INTERVIEW with Fred Stonehouse ==========

BTW, many thanks to Amy Crehore for putting me in touch with the great American artist, Fred Stonehouse.