European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 30, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Artist Charles Kaufman. A amps l Emmett Lewis or Fred and frank1 cartoonist turns Talent to painting by Marian Hamilton staff writer move Over Picasso. Charles Kaufman creator of the cartoon stationed in Germany with Fred and Frank has put Down his Pencil and picked up a Brush. Kaufman has been an artist since kindergarten. Even then he knew enough about real Art to color in one Brown grape along with All the purple ones since there s always at least one Rotten one in the Bunch. How can someone with those credentials not succeed Kaufman is willing to find out. He started concentrating on a new discipline a painting a about 15 months ago and already has a one Man show. His paintings Are on exhibit at two locations in Heidelberg Germany. The first at the Penta hotel on Vangerow Strasse 16, lasts through june 21, the second at the Destillo on Unte Strasse 16 ends june 8. Both exhibitions Are packed full of Kaufman s own slightly Peculiar View of reality. One painting titled vacation in Kuwait shows a Picasso esque woman in a seas Tell swimsuit against a backdrop of either fireworks or flames take your pick. Almost All of his paintings Are still lifes or women and All come from the creator s imagination. He uses no models but instead expands on Pencil sketches. His career shows the same pattern before the painting came the drawing. Kaufman started sketching As a Small child by the age of 13, he was drawing even As he watched to. He Drew cartoons for his Junior High school newspaper and in High school did editorial cartoons for a local Hillsborough ore., newspaper. In College he worked As an editorial cartoonist for Oregon state University s newspaper the daily barometer. After College he joined the air Force and turned free Lance racking up credits with the Wall Street journal Europe punch National Lampoon cartoon Auto week a comic and rip off comic. Fame however came with his Transfer to we Brucken a Germany As a lieutenant in 1979. He saw a advertisement for free Lance cartoonists in what was then overseas life Magazine and sent in several contributions. Among them was a prototype of the strip. That became stationed in Germany with Fred and Frank. The strip lasted until late 1990, when Kaufman took a Job with an advertising Agency and became too Busy to keep up with it. A the 38-year-old Kaufman has Only had one formal Art class. That was a beginner s Art course in College that he took because he needed More College credits and thought he could get an a. He was already a cartoonist for the College newspaper at the time. Kaufman does t think people can Quot learn Art. He feels that artists Are born that although technique is Kaufman s landscapes feature Bright colors and Geometric forms with sharply defined lines. Important it cannot make up for natural Talent and perseverance. Quot god gives you the Talent then you have to be willing to spend 10000 hours doing nothing else but polishing it a he says. It took Kaufman a Long time to get into painting. In 1976 he made his first serious attempt but was t really comfortable with the results. In Early 1990 he decided he was ready to try again. With the end of the Fred and Frank strip he also found that he had a Little extra tire and no creative outlet for it. According to Kaufman a final incentive was provided by a trip to Budapest Hungary. A cartoon festival he had been invited to attend became Boring so he went to the Art museums instead. The artwork he saw there renewed his determination to put his own ideas Down on Canvas. Kaufman thinks a person needs a certain attitude before he is mentally ready for the discipline. If you re going to paint it takes your whole life to develop Quot i says. Quot every painting i do i can see something new i learn something and something changes. Each painting gives me new ideas for the next  he has been known to get so excited by a new idea that he continues even after sensible people would quit. Fie once sprained several Muscles in his hands from paid tag so much but instead of resting he just had his wife insert the Brush into the bandages and kept right on going. Kaufman estimates that he works an average of four hours a night sometimes juggling four to five unfinished paintings at a time. A. Smaller work about 1 foot Square takes about four hours to Complete and one of his larger creations about 2 feet by 1 i feet takes about eight hours. The finished products sell for. About 500-800 Marks s300-$480 apiece. Kaufman says he hates the thought of  his paintings. Quot in a Way i done to want people to buy them. You get so attached to each one. With a cartoon you keep the original and everybody else gets a copy. But some works Are reminiscent of Picasso s style. When you sell a painting you never get to see it  Fie laughs As he ret alls one that will to especially haul to sell. Quot i was t satisfied with one of my paintings so i flipped it around and started Over. But when i finished the set Ond painting the first one just kept nagging at me so i repainted it. I done to even know How to Frame it but somebody is going to get two Lor the   May 30, 1991 stripes Magazine