| By Arlene Vigoda |
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| And the 34-year-old German-born caricaturist has captured celebrities’ facial characteristics in the new Stars (Morpheus), a wry book featuring almost 80 surreal, unsettling and humorous paintings of Robert De Niro, Bette Davis, Jamie Lee Curtis, Elvis Presley, jack Nicholson, Madonna and Keith Richards, to name a few. |
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| His caricatures of Kathie Lee and Frank Gifford, Marv Albert, Barbara Streisand and Christian Slater will grace the pages of Playboy’s January Issue. |
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| “I try to get behind the glamour and try to get inside the people and capture their essence.” Kruger says. “if I don’t feel like I have their essence I will destroy the painting and start again.” |
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| He says he did just that with his caricature of Marilyn Monroe. “She was the hardest one. I just couldn’t seem to get her expression until I tried 13 times,” he says. |
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| He prefers to paint people he admires. “the fascinating face of Keith Richards got to me.” Kruger says. “you can see the story of his life in his face.” Fellow Rolling Stone Ron Wood, he says, is “a very warm man with lots of humor,” |
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| Last year, Kruger compiled a book devoted to renderings of the Stones. “ I love drawing the group their faces are so interesting.” |
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| As for why he draws more men than women Kruger says, “it’s always a kind of self-portrait for me. |
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| “It’s a kind of therapy for me to slip into their characters for a while and try to become them – like Dr. Jekyll and Rm. Hyde,” he says with a laugh. |
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