RTISTS, | thought, were supposed to be an introverted, moody lot. Until, that is, | met Peter Kiss. Evelyn Jacob SPOTLIGHT FEATURE A West Vancouver marine biologist-turned architect-turned sculptor, Kiss is the happiest man I've ever met. | mean, here's a guy whose sculpture Doggie From Hell looks more like a love-sick puppy than a hound from Hades. Kiss added a scraggly, mangy beard, antlers, spikes, and a long, nasty-looking red tongue — just about everything he could think of to give his mut a sinister look — to no avail. “Maybe it’s the eyelashes,” | thought to myself gazing at the piece in Kiss’s studio-basement, which seemed to be cracking a mischievous grin. The fact is, Kiss is so high on life he’s simply incapable of creating anything mean. “tf your art reflects where you come from then I’ve had a wonderful life. It’s been great,” says the freckle-faced 36-year-old, who just can’t stop smiling. All of this perkiness is under- standable once you've visited the artist in his West Vancouver resi- dence. Kiss has got it all — toys, a good education, a wonderful disposition and a healthy relation- ship with his parents — good enough that sharing their spacious art-filled Eagleridge home doesn‘t cramp his style. Nor does sharing studio space with his father-artist, now retired architect, Zoltan Kiss. Low anxiet Welcome to the no-angst world of Peter Kiss “Emake dust in one comer, he makes ceramic dust in another, chuckles Kiss. “We critique each other's work and are paintully honest with each other,’ Fresh from a two-week show at the Bridge Street Gallery on Graa- ville island, Kiss is mounting aa exhibit at West Vancouver's Perry Building Gallery this week. (The exhibit runs until Aug. Pio Leading the way into the living room pasta large window that ovedooks Howe Sound, Kiss complains that visitors always ad- mire the view instead of the art, “That piece,” he points toa wooden animal on the floor, ‘is called Road Warrior and His Cog. Uniortunately a window washer stepped on the cog and crushed it.” Flipping through a photo album containing recent snapshots of his work, Kiss explains why he called a blue horse carrying a circus ac- robat on its back, Kangaroo With Young. “1 got tired of going to art gal- leries and saying ‘I don’t under- stand,’ ’’ he replies. Another of his whimsical pieces, long ladders on which men in Dusiness suits carrying umbrellas stand, is called the Mary Poppins Syndrome. My personal favorite is The Boogie Men, tall shadowy figures with impossibly tiny heads and gargantuan hands. Dozens of little children are trapped inside their hollowed bellies. These mis-proportions, says Kiss, are based on the premise that “boogie men don’t think; they just jump out and eat you.”’ He also creates “‘2'%-D art,” flat wood-cut floral scenes and still lifes that occasionally have a 3-D object — for instance a violin neck — stuck to them. “‘tcall it multiple per- sonalities,’’ Kiss chortles, when asked his style. “‘] used to describe it as ‘‘no angst,” but people didn’t know what that meant. It’s not serious, you don’t have to figure it out.” His ideas, he says, come trom “anywhere and everywhere.” "NEWS photo Cindy Goodman SCULPTOR PETER KISS and his ‘‘Doggie From Hell." The West Vancouver artist's work is on view at the Ferry Building Gallery through August 11. For example, a kettle he bought for his parents inspired a Sym- phonic Tea Ketile Series, little cauldrons covered with bits of real musica! instruments, For someone who's only been at it one year, Kiss has produced a hefty warehouse of work. He introduced himself to Van- couver for the first time last year at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre Gallery when a scheduled artist dropped out al the last minute. He WV composer Coulthard honored Vancouver Chamber Music Festi- val set for Aug. 9. CANADIAN COMPOSER Jean Coulthard has been awarded an honorary doctorate from = Mon- treal’s Concordia University. The convocation ceremony, held recently in the university's concert hall, featured a_ perfor- mance of Coulthard’s Shelley Por- trait, a work that was originally commissioned for the opening of the hall. The world-renowned composer, who lives in West Vancouver, has been commissioned to write a work for the Toronto Children’s Chorus. Her Sonata tor Violin and Cello will be premicred at the . MICHAEL CONWAY Baker is cur- rently working on scores for the tilms Lighthouse and The Jollybean Odyssey, a pilot for a CBC children’s fantasy series. iame * ts RESTAURANT} 2422 Marine Dr., West Vancouver ROS | Finest Cooking of the Greek Islands Platter for Two *18.95 Meat Balls, Dolmades, Spanakopita, ‘ Mousaka, Souviaki, Rice, Homus, Satziki, Pita Take out — Catering & Parties EAT IN ONLY Expires Sept. 30, 1991 Special valid with this coupon