“ BUILDING A UNIFIED PATTERN TO … OBSERVE THE HUMAN CONDITION”
Stephen
Artist
Crane, Sr.
INSPIRED &
INSPIRING
/// BY RICK MARSCHALL
No, not that Stephen Crane. This Stephen Crane wears a red badge of courage, of sorts, but not a battlefield bandage. His is likely to be drawn with intricate lines, and the red would be vivid Dr. Martin’ s artist color out of the bottle. His metaphoric battles, a string of victories, have been in many fields of life.
Stephen Crane Sr. is an artist, you see. A unique artist with a unique talent, and a unique record of activity. And a crowded record of activity, at that. Crane recently celebrated his 78 th birthday – or, as his busy interviewer thinks he specifies, he has observed the day of his birth( a Friday, by the way) for the 78 th time. Just so.
His career, as his conversations, are peripatetic. When asked about his artistic influences, he cites Hunter S. Thompson and Jack Kerouac – neither of them representational artists, but we get the point. How long has he worked in pen and ink?“ Only 25 years,” he answered, seemingly unaware that this would constitute a career to mere mortals.“ Before that, I worked in oil on canvas.” Oh, and before that, Crane was an attorney. And an accountant.
Today, besides drawing and Who Knows What Else, Crane periodically holds court at the Early Bird Café on Orchard Lake Road in Keego Harbor. As a longtime colorful and interesting fixture in the area, this West Bloomfield resident frequently is surrounded by other equally colorful and interesting people. An informal salon, in its way.
When Crane is asked to describe his style, he calls it“ Abstract Surrealism,” which would be a tautology in others’ hands. His drawings are redolent of Saul Steinberg and two-dimensional
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Innovative Health- Winter 2017