Downtown Phoenix Voices is an ongoing series of profiles on the many diverse and inspirational voices in the downtown Phoenix community. To read the previous installment in the series, click here.
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Artist and musician Fred Tieken rarely starts out with a plan.
Born in Meyer, Illinois, during the Great Depression, Tieken entertained himself as a child by drawing comics on paper scraps and playing music. He never took an art class, and though Tieken’s parents gifted him a clarinet at an early age, he was entirely-self taught. Listening to the radio and records to learn songs, Tieken never learned how to read sheet music.
“So I figured that one out,” Tieken said with a hearty laugh.
Today, Tieken has enjoyed careers as a music producer and graphic designer spanning 30 years. Tieken will turn 80 next year, but he hasn’t slowed down.
Most recently, Tieken has been pursuing painting rather than commercial art production, and he’s made a splash in the downtown Phoenix scene. Tieken’s “Shakin’ Things Up” show at Treeo office and gallery closes Nov. 17, and “California Dreamin’ The Art of Fred Tieken” at Gallo Blanco runs through Nov. 30. Tieken will have a solo exhibition, “Heads Up!” at Aqua Art Miami in Florida during the first week of December.
Amy Young, a gallerist and curator in downtown Phoenix who has showcased at Aqua, thought Tieken would be a perfect match for the festival. Young says Tieken’s use of “dynamic palettes” pairs well with his sophisticated, wry humor, giving every piece impact.
“It all comes together, every time,” Young said.
Tieken’s passion for painting, like the rest of his creative endeavors, came from unexpected circumstances. Four years ago, Tieken was told his chronic kidney disease put him in need of dialysis. When he told his wife, Gail, she immediately recommended a transplant — and her kidney ended up being a perfect match. The Tiekens began the donation process.
To handle his anxiety about the upcoming surgery, Fred Tieken began to paint.
His first piece depicted the medical procedure at the Mayo Clinic through his imagination. He titled it “Mayo Mayo, Daylight Come and Me Wanna Go Home,” and portrayed himself and Gail Tieken among machinery, kidney-themed decor and a sign reading “ICE 50 CENTS A POUND.” After the surgery was successful, Fred Tieken celebrated by buying more canvas.
“I’m just so hooked I can’t quit,” he said.
His art sales and promotion are propelled and managed by Gail Tieken, whose background as a talent agent and graphic-design business manager allow her to take care of details like finding and booking galleries. She said her husband’s presurgery painting ended up being a fairly realistic representation of the procedure.
“The doctors saw it and thought it was hilarious,” Gail Tieken said.
After the surgery, Fred Tieken started painting again and hasn’t stopped since.
“It is a heck of a lot of work,” Gail Tieken said. “But in a way I think it’s keeping us both younger.”
Fred Tieken’s paintings didn’t make it into galleries by any substantial planning or execution. After a few months of work in his garage studio, Tieken had paintings stacked up all around the house.
“He’d bring one in and say, ‘What are we gonna do with this?’” Gail Tieken said.
The couple decided to load the paintings into the car for an upcoming trip to Scottsdale. They stopped at a friend’s gallery so she could appraise the paintings, and they were surprised when the woman said she’d like to have them in the gallery. A painting sold after just a few days.
“It was beginner’s luck,” Gail Tieken said. “But it was validation.”
His work has addressed a variety of topics, from genetically-modified organisms with an immersive mad-scientist piece at ArtelPhx to the criminal justice system with a shadowbox depiction of a prison, complemented with banal bureaucratic voice-over courtesy of Gail Tieken. However, Fred Tieken said he doesn’t plan grand statements when he’s making art.
“As I’m doing it, it leads me into territory where I say, ‘How did I ever get there?” Tieken said. “All my paintings have a deeper meaning than I meant for them to.”
Tieken’s put a lot of himself into his commercial design career, but he finds energy in art.
“I get to do whatever I feel like,” Tieken said.
It’s a direct contrast to his days of designing album covers and concert posters. Since he and his wife have been collecting art throughout their 42-year marriage, they decided it would be reasonable to showcase Tieken and other artists’ work in a gallery of their own. Come February, the Tiekens will have a gallery to accompany the existing studio on their property in Paradise Valley. Fred also has a studio in Venice, California, but he is proud to call Phoenix home.
“Art around here is every bit as good as in California,” Tieken said.
Though he admits that art sells more rapidly in California, he said in his 30 years in the Valley, he’s seen vast improvements and more opportunities for renowned and unknown artists to showcase art. He said he hopes artists in Phoenix have more opportunities in the future to make a living off of art rather than make it a secondary part of their lives.
“If you’re willing to not pay any attention to what anybody says, (you’ll succeed),” Tieken said. “That’s my philosophy with everything.”
Editor’s note: Hattie Jean Hayes works at Treeo, where Tieken’s work is currently on display.
Contact reporter at hattiejhayes@gmail.com
