Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2008 > September > 26 > Entry
Stan Watts, Illustrator of Anxiety, Part 1
His name is Stan.
Not Headbanger or Wolf or some other tough biker handle. Just plain, Midwestern Stan. Stan Watts.
Alright, yes, he rides a motorcycle. But not a chopper or a touring bike. Just an Indian Chief Vintage, an elegant red-and-cream, American-made machine that looks like something out of the Jazz Age.
So hardly a rebel — with or without a cause.
Watts is a nice guy with a sunny disposition. So why has this stubborn non-malcontent spent the past 30 years dreaming up psyche-searing images — slashers and storms, creepy puppets and snaking tornadoes, anthropomorphized animals and anatomically incorrect humans — for rock album covers, movie posters and edgy advertisements?
For 10 of those years, this son of Ponca City, Okla. has made those nightmarish pictures in suburban Cedar Park. Here he sits at a South Austin coffee shop, hair slightly stringy, but still rocker-ready for a man in his mid-50s. He grins readily from behind his pale-colored road glasses.
So why the unsettling pictures?
“Go figure,” he says. “Maybe I need to lie down on the couch for this question.”
To be continued …
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By Bob Madden
September 26, 2008 4:26 PM | Link to this
I always loved that Martin Briley album cover and the song "Salt in My Tears" was great.