Paul Stanton is at his usual midday haunt, the Maplewood studios of Artists First, a nonprofit that serves artists with disabilities. Wearing a paint-spattered Starbucks apron, he keeps busy with new works while cracking wise with fellow artists and facilitators. One of the studios’ most prolific artists, Stanton has begun making the difficult transition involved in committing to art full-time.
The gregarious 54-year-old talks at length about music, a major theme of his work. As we chat, he is working on an image of the Rat Pack, but he talks about future pieces involving a wild laundry list of musicians: Cab Calloway, NWA, Dizzy Gillespie, The Brothers Johnson, The Sugarhill Gang, The Temptations, Eminem…
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Growing up, Stanton says, he had eclectic tastes but mostly favored rhythm and blues. Some of his earliest influences were music-drenched cartoons from the ’60s and ’70s: The Archies, The Beatles, and The Jackson 5. (All remain among his favorites today.) Stanton scours the Web to find the old promotional photos and album covers from which he paints. That genre of work is particularly interesting to him; he dreams of one day painting album covers. Stanton’s open to any genre, “as long as it’s music that won’t put me to sleep and have me fall into those paintings,” he says. “I like the past’s music, but I also like to keep up with the times.”
Lately Stanton and Artists First staffer “Typewriter Tim” Jordan have focused on acts with big followings. They’ve also started sending free works to musicians with St. Louis roots, as well as those stopping in town on tour. The idea is get pieces into the hands of collectors and those who might wish to commission work. Stanton speaks with joy of his first sale, a piece that sold for $12 at his alma mater, Soldan High School. These days, some of his pieces flirt with three figures.
His work now hangs in local bars, restaurants, and venues. “It makes me feel good,” he says, “like I’m getting recognized. Maybe I can give somebody some inspiration—and if you’re disabled, don’t let anybody stop you from what you want to do. Don’t let them keep you from doing what you’re doing. We’ve all got the dream that we’re going to be successful—not just myself, but the others here with me.”
Stanton’s work can be purchased at Artists First, 7190 Manchester, artistsfirststl.org.
Pick Three: Covering Covers
Three classic album covers that we’d enjoy seeing Stanton tackle:
Chingy, Jackpot (2003): Bold, full of swag, and colorful—this cover’s got it all, including the holy trinity of early-2000s STL hip-hop: the artist himself, a classic car, and the Gateway Arch. In light of some of Stanton’s saucier early work, even the parental advisory would translate well.
Pavlov’s Dog, At the Sound of the Bell (1976): Featuring a Gothic ghoul hanging upside down from a pair of immense bells, this spooky prog-rock classic is ripe for reinterpretation.
Miles Davis, On the Corner (1972): This bright cover defines the era in which in which it was made. Stanton could kill a cover of this cover.
