Interview with Craig Mildrexler

I have been working on an article for Craig Mildrexler. I find it inspiring to see in Craig a real-life example of someone turning around his career to follow his artistic calling. Please see the complete TBLM article below. The images in this post are not related to Craig or his work, other than that they are of Genoa, the city that he visited recently.

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This week, I had an opportunity to interview Craig Mildrexler, a Kansas City – based painter, who creates “artwork that changes when viewed in a different light…just like people!”

Craig specializes in abstracts. He enjoys the freedom that comes from having no boundaries on the artist’s imagination. Abstract paintings are open to individual interpretation, and in that sense, they directly involve viewers in the creative process. Craig views each painting as an experiment, sometimes making the images look like flowers or stars and nebulae.

Craig’s medium is neon (fluorescent) acrylic paint on masonite board. Sometimes, he mixes fluorescent paints with regular acrylic paints to achieve a 3D effect – the non-fluorescent paint turns dark when viewed under UV light, creating an impression of depth. Mixing the two types of pigments allows him to creates two compositions in one painting. For example, mixing blue neon colour with a regular (non-fluorescent) yellow acrylic produces a green colour when viewed under white light, but under the black light, the yellow hue disappears, and the colour becomes blue. Neon and regular acrylics mix perfectly, and mostly hold the colour of the regular acrylic under the white light, because the florescent component of the neon paint is not fully activated.

Craig applies the paint using a variety of tools, from different types of brushes to knives to toothpicks to his fingers. He often uses a hair dryer to spread the paint on the board or lets gravity do this work. Sometimes, he uses a back side of a masonite board, which has a rough texture, to smudge the paint around the working surface.

I asked Craig about one practical advice that he could share with someone, who would want to try his technique. His tip was to add water to the paint – different amounts to each colour. As the paint dries, the colours separate and crack differently to create interesting 3D effects, especially in the neon colours.

Craig paints under regular white light, so he sees the “black light” effects for the first time only after the painting is finished. Relying on his extensive experience, Craig can create the desired fluorescent effects without immediately seeing them. Still, he admits, when the result is revealed under the black light, he often cannot help but chuckle in surprise. In fact, this element of surprise is what particularly attracts him to black light painting.

Craig grew up in an artistic family: both his parents were artists. Although he never formally studied painting and has never taken an art class, Craig often watched his father paint. Craig went to college for a business degree and subsequently worked as an accountant until approximately 2001. During that time, he painted recreationally, as a means of relief from his stressful job. In 1990, to take his mind off the work, Craig followed the example of his parents and painted his first and still personal favourite picture – a little square that is now hanging in his studio. As he was working on it, Craig noticed that he was so focussed on the process that all his stress seemed to disappear. He then painted another picture, and another one, an another one…. Since then, he created over 5,000 paintings. He still considers it an epiphany to finding in art something completely unique and different from his prior interests by just stumbling across this powerful experience and trying to replicate it.

Eventually, Craig decided to paint professionally. He really enjoyed it and was encouraged by good sales of his work. In 2010, he discovered for himself neon paints and received a very enthusiastic response of people, who saw his work at art shows. His approach to developing his craft has always been experimental – using trial and error and learning from his mistakes.

Craig’s main influence in art is his father, Bob Mildrexler, who was a prominent artist in Kansas City in 1940s and until he passed away in 1998. Bob created over 10,000 paintings in his career, and always enjoyed experimenting with the painting process.

Craig himself has had a significant influence on the art community in Kansas City, the United States and internationally. Over the past ten years, he has taken part in more than 100 juried art fairs and exhibited his work in many galleries, restaurants and private businesses across the US. In November 2015, Craig attended the First International Black Light Painting show in Genoa, Italy among leading black light artists from Italy, France, Russia, Poland and Brazil. Along with these high-profile international activities, Craig contributes to the art community in his home town by giving away an original painting each Friday. Currently, Craig is planning a Black Light Painting Show in Kansas City, which will take place in the summer of 2017. It will feature the works of artists from Europe, Indonesia, South America and the United States.

To see more of Craig’s work, please visit his Facebook page: Craig Mildrexler’s “Power and Black Light Art”.