Paul Stanley of Kiss adds to Criss Angel’s art collection

Las Vegas Review-Journal

6 years ago

Criss Angel and Paul Stanley are shown with the “Split Face” painting Stanley has created and donated to Angel for display at his new theater at Planet Hollywood. (Criss Angel)

Criss Angel and Paul Stanley are shown with a guitar Stanley has donated to Angel for display at his new theater at Planet Hollywood. (Criss Angel)

Paul Stanley knows a little about face paint. And the vocalist, co-founder and “Starchild” of legendary rock band Kiss has created a new character — for Criss Angel.

Stanley has presented Angel the original oil painting “Split/Face,” showing one side of the magician’s face in full makeup and the other clean. An accomplished painter, Stanley has been working on the piece for much of the year and delivered the work on Thursday.

“Split/Face” will be displayed at the new Criss Angel Theater at Planet Hollywood on Dec. 19, the first night of previews for the new”Mindfreak Live.” Stanley sells his paintings online, and as his website states, “One sees in Paul’s abstracts the influences of Kandinsky, Mondrian, Malevich, Paul Klee and Mark Rothko.”

Angel and Stanley are good friends. In August, Angel posted a video of Stanley as the rocker worked on the nearly finished “Split/Face.”

“Paul has been to my show, house, studio and has even seen what we are doing at my theater at Planet Hollywood,” Angel said in a text message Friday. “He loves this stuff. He also shot another attraction for my lobby that people will enjoy.”

AMAZING! I’m blown away by the priceless gift my friend @PaulStanleyLive @KISSOnline created for me with his pure talent. I’m honestly speechless. What can’t you do? This will hang in the lobby of my new show @phvegas Thx from my heart Paul! Will treasure forever. Love u bro Xc pic.twitter.com/OcA408uaky

— Criss Angel (@CrissAngel) August 5, 2018

That’s a photo series, “Celebrity Pictures to Life,” which are photos of Angel with various celebrities (including Stanley) that will also be on display on the hotel’s mezzanine level. Along with the painting, Stanley gave Angel a guitar played onstage and dated Aug. 12, 2016.

Angel has presented Stanley with valuable gifts, most notably a set of Louis Vitton monogrammed luggage from the Julien’s Auctions Jerry Lewis estate sale on June 22. Angel snapped up the collection of canvas, hard-case trunks during the online auction set inside his theater on June 22. The set went for $19,200.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.