By Dawn Watson
Art is in John Stango’s blood.
The Philadelphia-based pop-art painter is the son of a talented artist, and the cousin of an American illustrating icon.
Mr. Stango’s artistic talents were cultivated and encouraged early on by his mother, Frances Elaine Rockwell, who was also a painter and lover of the arts. Mr. Stango didn’t discover until later on that that there was to be another major artistic influence in his life, his mother’s relative, Norman Rockwell.
Mr. Rockwell, a prolific painter and illustrator who died in 1978, was famous for his five decades of The Saturday Evening Post magazine covers. The Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, who created more than 4,000 original works during his lifetime and painted the portraits of four United States Presidents, is considered one of the leading artistic forces of Americana art for his vivid portraiture, which captured the culture of our country.
Mr. Stango’s visual style is more in line with later artists such as Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg and LeRoy Neiman (who all, coincidentally have strong Hamptons ties). Like his famous cousin, he’s also prolific and quite captivated by Western culture. His brightly colorful and striking graphic paintings and hand-pulled silkscreen imagery are rife with mainstream pop and mass media references. The artist’s big, bold works are populated with Americana-influenced imagery: flags, comic book and sports heroes, legendary performers, even presidents.
Though the artist never met Mr. Rockwell, he feels the kinship and is proud to be a torchbearer of sorts, he says.
“We both create Americana-type work,” says Mr. Stango. “I consider him to be an early American pop artist—the Andy Warhol of his time. The biggest difference: he’s the country mouse and I’m the city mouse.”
Mr. Stango’s work will be exhibited in a one-man show at Chase Edwards Fine Art Gallery in Bridgehampton, opening with a reception on Saturday, June 27, from 6 to 9 p.m. and hanging through July 11. Collectors can expect to see more of the distinctive themes similar to those he showed last year at his inaugural Hamptons exhibit at Chase Edwards—brightly colored American flags; portraits of the likes of Superman, Mickey Mantle, Audrey Hepburn, and Abe Lincoln; and mash-ups of iconic imagery, such as “PEANUTS Lucy, Linus & Clint-Eastwood,” which features Peanuts comic strip siblings Lucy and Linus van Pelt over a silkscreened image of tough-guy actor Clint Eastwood juxtaposed with the nostalgia-inducing logo from DOTS gumdrops candy.
“The mash-up paintings are my concept paintings; pictures from the real me,” he explains. “I like putting it out there, Clint Eastwood and the futility of how you can’t kick a football. I like the juxtaposition of different forms and styles. I’m not trying to make a political statement, more like capturing the pop-culture zeitgeist. Plus, they just look cool.”
During the upcoming show at Chase Edwards, Mr. Stango will also be unveiling new work from his “Stewardess” series for Hamptons fans.
“I’m attracted to retro stuff that’s kitschy, especially with a late 1950s- and early 60s vibe,” he says. “Like ‘The Blob,’ ‘I Was a Teenage Runaway,’ the 1960’s sexy and seductive stewardess, Don Draper-meets-‘Highway 66.’”
The artist, who paints every day, draws inspiration from old magazines, postcards, memorabilia, whatever strikes his fancy for nostalgia. He’s usually got three or four canvases going at a time in his South Philly studio, which is close to the neighborhood where he grew up.
Blasting early regional rhythm and blues and soul music from the likes of Teddy Pendergrass or old-school crooning by Frank Sinatra, the artist gets in the mood to paint. He puts his whole body into the act, he says, “dancing” from canvas to canvas—drawing with broad, bold brush strokes to create the vivid, in-your-face, color-splashed images he’s known for.
“Sometimes I do go overboard with the color, and then I’ll try to turn down the tint, like a TV set,” he muses. “I try to keep it low-key. But I’m Italian. I can’t help myself.”
Chase Edwards Fine Art Gallery in Bridgehampton will exhibit the artwork of John Stango from Saturday, June 27, through July 11. The artist will appear at the opening reception on Saturday, June 27, from 6 to 9 p.m. and at that closing reception on Sunday, June 28, from 1 to 4 p.m. For additional information, visit www.chaseedwardsgallery.com.
