Moira Vincentelli interviewing Charles Krafft
M.V. Charles can you tell me how you first got interested in art?
C.K. I was always interested
in art from a relatively early age and probably the first artistic influence
on my life was an automotive painter, Von Dutch, who lived in Southern
California. I saw him on T.V pin striping Keenan Wynn’s motorcycle and
that got me excited about art.
M.V. You say he invented pinstriping, is that the line along the side
of the car? It’s not fancy decoration of cars?
C.K. It’s fancy decoration of cars. Pin striping had been used
to decorate safes and an assortment of other functional objects including
cars but there had never been such Baroque pinstripes. That became a sort
of fad amongst custom car enthusiasts and hot rodders. He was the premier
car painter.
M.V. So you were a teenager at that time?
C.K. I was a pre-teen. I was twelve when I first ran across his work
and then I forgot about him. Then a few years ago I decided to find out
what had happened to him, because he had left this indelible impression
upon me and I tracked him down and entered into a lively and prolonged
correspondence with him.
M.V. And that was important to you?
C.K. Very, yes.
M.V. And was he still interesting to you at that point or were you
interested in him as a sort of..?
C.K. I was interested in him in a sort of ghost from my past and I was
also interested in him as a forgotten icon of American popular culture.
M.V. So what kind of background did you come from? Where were you
living?
C.K. Seattle, Washington.
M.V. In an urban background?
C.K. Urban.
M.V. And what were your parents doing?
C.K. My father worked for Boeing and my mother was a housewife.
M.V. So there was no particular art in the family?
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