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Wayne Kral began his art career as a child when he got his hands
on a crayon, pencil; anything to make a mark. His early drawings
were of decapitated figures flying through walls, a pathway of eyes
leading to a frog tied to a tree limb and other images of what he
figured was just underneath a girl’s dress. As a teenager Kral
discovered rock-n-roll, sex, drugs and surrealism. The lure of
spontaneity continues to drive his work.
Kral grew up “out there” and felt like a city kid trapped in a farm
boy’s body. Out of high school he escaped to San Francisco and met
members of the American Surrealist group. He exhibited in several
group shows and one day discovered he was no longer in San
Francisco and in a surrealist group. At this point Kral was given a
guitar and secretly began to write songs venting his frustration at
being back “out there”.
Around the same time his painting began a transformation
representing what he considered his major artistic influences: Yves
Tanguy, Joan Miro, Frida Kahlo and Buddy Holly. He exhibited his
work frequently but encouraged by the lean attendance, lack of
patrons and no media acknowledgement decided to move to
New York City.
He immediately found, upon exhibiting in New York City, lean
attendance, lack of patrons and no media acknowledgement.
It was time for new tactics so Kral picked up his guitar and began
writing songs to illustrate his life in Manhattan. His solo shows
emptied many dive bars but led to the formation of a band called
Mighty Man, primarily playing Kral’s original compositions.
During a tour of Manhattan’s lower east side Kral hired a subway
car to get ahead of the itinerary to catch up on his laundry and
at the next stop was told that all three members of his band were
killed in a bizarre police crossfire where they had mistook wallets
for guns.
Undaunted, Kral started a Buddy Holly cover band known as
The Brevoort, named after the apartment building Buddy Holly
lived in New York City at the time of his death. Hand picked by Kral
the band reveled in playing the 22 year old’s (at the time of his
death) most obscure numbers and replacing the traditional bass
player with a tuba player.
Finally, it seemed Kral was on to something.
But here too, fate intervened; it turned out all three band members
were pregnant and within three months the band was done.
Today Kral is back to painting, paying homage to his artistic heroes,
writing new songs to take on a new musical journey (his friends
remember his love of romantic musical theatre) and the
beginnings of a mystery novel.
