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Garage Noir

About Me

KARL STEPHAN'S BIOGRAPHY: Born a U.S. citizen in Morocco in 1958, painter Karl Stephan also edited and illustrated Garage Noir, the collaborative e-zine of art, music and the creative process. Garage Noir ended publication in June 2009, but Karl still paints.More than 20 years after receiving his degree in fine art from "tiny" Guilford College in North Carolina, Karl resumed painting in 2004. His first one-man show “March Madness” was held in Connecticut in 2008. As a student of noted artist Roy Nydorf, Karl attended master classes with printmaker Gabor Peterdi, painters William Bailey and Yvonne Jacquette and the satirical Soviet creative team of Komar and Melamid. Bill Bailey was not impressed but Ms. Jacquette singled out Karl's work as “powerful.” More recent opinions range from "anachronistic" to "zany." Karl has participated in numerous group shows and is represented in private collections from Boston to San Francisco. In 2007 two of his paintings were selected for display by the Cheryl Brutvan, Curator of Contemporary Art of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.A charter member of the Libertine Collective, Karl regularly shows his work at leading alternative art spaces in Connecticut. He shows it irregularly everywhere else.SLIDESHOW: 11 RECENT PAINTINGS (left-click to see larger.)ARTIST'S STATEMENT:I work to find something spiritual in the materiality of American life - a laugh, at least. I use familiar household objects arranged in a way that is engaging and meaningful. Objects are drawn life-sized, sometimes from memory. Contrasting jewel-toned colors energize the pictures. Or, that's the idea anyway. Thank you for your interest in my art. Welcome to Garage Noir.

My Interests

I'd like to meet:

Playlist – May 2009 - GN Songs of the Week in order of appearance:"Não Interessa Não" – by Brazil’s fabulous Orquestra Contemporânea de Olinda.“Wonderlust King” – from Eastern European gypsy-punks Gogol Bordello.“Buhalla” – hypnotic music of Morocco by Hassan Ben Jaafar."Rock & Roll Is Never Gonna Die" – super-punk from London’s Atomic Suplex.“El Reloj de la Pastora” – by Mumbai Taxi, from, naturally: Indianapolis, Indiana. *Note: Garage Noir will continue to recognize deserving artists on MySpace weekly.

My Blog

Volume 2, Issue 6 "Au Revoir" - The Last Issue

Before We Go As you know, Garage Noir will suspend publication as a monthly newsletter and blog after this issue.  Before we go, well share a final taste of the energy, diversity and creati...
Posted by on Sat, 06 Jun 2009 12:29:00 GMT

Volume 2, Issue 5 "Detour"

From the Editor This months theme Detour reflects the steps were sometimes bold enough to take beyond what poet T.S. Eliot might have called the appetency of our metalled ways.  Indeed m...
Posted by on Sat, 02 May 2009 11:39:00 GMT

Volume 2, Issue 4 "Folly"

The Last Days ofSir Mick LeafyAstute readers will recall that late last year, Garage Noir received a puzzling manuscript by mysterious means which resulted in a plea to you  the astute reader  for...
Posted by on Fri, 03 Apr 2009 08:34:00 GMT

Volume 2 Issue 3 "March Madness"

Irish Music  From the Inside - by Joshua Gannon-Salomon....The bus was late. It was a cold January afternoon, I was onmy way to an Irish music session at the Harp, a pub in ..North Amherst.. and the ...
Posted by on Fri, 06 Mar 2009 15:47:00 GMT

Volume 2, Issue 2 "The Terrible Twos"

Mise-en-scène (Act Three - the final act - continued from GN V.2 #1)Scene 1.A little girl leads her dog across the stage, which isbrilliantly lit.Scene 2.Two young men stroll across the stage arm...
Posted by on Sun, 01 Feb 2009 09:04:00 GMT

VOLUME 2, ISSUE 1 "HAPPY NEW YEAR"

Mise-en-scène (Act Two - continued from GN V.1 12) Act Two begins with sounds of spring: The bodies of a thousand birds or more are dropped from above like rain, accompanied by an overwhelming ...
Posted by on Sat, 03 Jan 2009 20:16:00 GMT

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 12 "PRESENTS"

Our Present to You This is the twelfth monthly issue of Garage Noir, the collaborative e-zine of art, music and the creative process.  Thanks to all who have enjoyed, shared and contributed to...
Posted by on Sat, 06 Dec 2008 21:28:00 GMT

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 11: PLENTY

From Cambridge to Keokuk: The Strange Tale of Oliver Wendell Holmes I was arrested recently by this spoken-word opening of the little-known 1966 garage-rock classic "Blackout of Gretely" by the b...
Posted by on Sat, 08 Nov 2008 06:16:00 GMT

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 10 "ALL HALLOWS"

Art and Soul - by B. HyattChurch and other similar religious establishments have fallen short of supplying many of us with an answer to the human condition. That does not mean that we have completely ...
Posted by on Sat, 04 Oct 2008 18:52:00 GMT

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 9 "BACK TO WORK!"

 Working the Musical Headwaters at Patuxent Records  by Jacque L. Zoerner Recognizing and nurturing talent is an art equal to the ability to apply chisel to stone, paint to canvas, or musical...
Posted by on Sat, 06 Sep 2008 14:54:00 GMT