Buzz in the studio, sharing the secrets of how he creates his unique style of painting:

Interview with Buzz on what inspires him as an artist and owning a gallery in the Pearl:

Artist’s Statement

“First…if you would rather watch a YouTube video with some of my thoughts, you can view the video above!
I paint for two reasons. The first is to communicate. I want others to see and appreciate this incredible imaginary world that exists within me…images and beings which, once painted, become immortal. The second is to escape unbearable, overwhelming anxiety of being insignificant. Painting allows me to pretend…to be young again, invulnerable and God-like. It soothes my boiling creative core, grants my least significant wish, and unconditionally honors my most bizarre thoughts. I paint with the canvas laying flat on a table so that I can overlay
oils on acrylics. These two mediums interact so selfishly when applied wet on top of each other, each seeking to dominate the space. The oils are attacked at the edges, with pieces breaking away and floating across the canvas on a sea of watery acrylic. Theirs is a destructive fight and romantic dance at the same time…until my hair dryer or space heater evaporates both to a sluggish acceptance of their static end. This is the excitement of every work. I feel like selling tickets to each event!” -Buzz Siler

Bio…a little history

Born on April 2nd, 1946, I spent the first 15 years as a Navy brat, travelling to different cities within the USA. This frequent moving from base to base had its good and bad aspects. Friendships would be many, but short-lived. Landscapes would change drastically from the snowy mountains of Kodiak, Alaska to the flat lands of Beeville, Texas. It was a feast of images, people, dialects, foods, clothing, all changing every two years. The only constant was family. Mom, dad, and a younger brother and sister.

I was an energetic young boy (and am still an energetic older boy at 64). My dad, being a hands-on mechanic, electrician, and building contractor, taught me “how” things worked, and how to fix them when they stopped working. He loved to play the guitar when he wasn’t building or fixing something. Mom was the highly-disciplined creative type. She loved working in the R&D department of a major electronics company, eventually leaving with a couple colleagues to start their own company. The combined influence of Mom and Dad gave me the confidence to be creative and the discipline to do it pretty well.

Weeekly guitar lessons and daily practice with my brother, Rick, allowed us to get weekend gigs at high school dances, college frat parties, weddings, and local nightclubs, making more money on a weekend than most of our friends made in a month. It was a good life, with lots of praise, women and travel. College was difficult. I flunked out of the first and last art class…something that was a big relief at the time, but embarrassing today. After four years of mixing education with rock band life, I still had not graduated. I accepted a recording contract with Pat Boone’s company (CoogaMooga) and moved to LA to be a “star” with my brother and our small band (X-25). The band broke up soon afterwards, but Rick and I kept entertaining as “The Siler Brothers”. Settling for awhile in Palm Springs, I painted by day and played music by night. It was a good and full life for a single guy.

By the time I married Sandi at 31, I had been in the opening act for the Beach Boys, signed to Four Star Television as a song writer, played in big hotels around the world, had my own art gallery (The Struggling Artist) in Palm Springs, a record album (Through A Window) and my own nightclub (The Cat And Fiddle) in southern California.

Oddly enough, the nightclub led me to my next career as an inventor. I traded out credit at the club for a new spa from a guy who had just opened a spa dealership nearby. Our spa sat beneath lots of trees and shrubs in the backyard, so we couldn’t keep it clean for more than a day. To make life easier I designed a nylon cover to stretch over the top…and a new business, “Spajamas”, was born. From that first successful invention I got the bug to re-direct my creative energy to other new products. I gave up music and art, started a family (four daughters) with Sandi and emersed myself in the invention business. It was good to us financially, and helped (at least a little) to quench my creative thirst, but it never fully replaced my passion for painting. How could it? Inventing new products teaches one to focus on the “utilitarian”, the “practical” (a lot of “left-brain” stuff). Painting is just the opposite. My paintings can be totally non-utilitarian, completely impractical, even whimsical, very “right-brain”. And people “expect” artists to be a little “off” (“eccentric” is a nice word that means the same thing), even anti-social. Inside my skin I have always been that…weird and reclusive… but covered it with a proper businessman shell for most of my adult life. Oh, what I probably missed (but oh, I won’t forget, what I also HAVE!).

Fortunately, now I can go back to living the artist’s life…at least for another twenty years or so. And I have the company of a loving wife and family to share it with, the financial stability to keep food on the table…and many friends. Best of all, my passion for painting has never waned. It is stronger today than ever. How lucky is that!