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Kenneth Stancin b.1938, Chicago, IL, d. 2012, Honolulu, HI. 

American surreal artist, active from the late 1960s until the end of his life at age 74. 

Kenneth Stancin had an interest in art as a child, but throughout his life developed several talents. While a student at Ela-Vernon High School in the township of Lake Zurich, IL, he was athletic and joined many of the sports teams, and as a youth took drafting classes at the Chicago Art Institute. A few years later, having decided on a career in acting, he was enrolled in the New York Academy of Dramatic Arts, and became art director of the school newspaper. In 1960 he relocated to Los Angeles, Calif. where he was employed in the aerospace industry as an electrical designer at Hughes Aircraft. In his spare time he worked on starting his acting career and was photographed with various starlets and celebrities. He was also a physique model, and a singer touring with Fats Domino. Early physique photos of Kenneth can sometimes be found for sale online. His acting career never panned out, but he focused on learning more about art, which became his main occupation for the duration of his life.

During the early to mid 1960s, Kenneth took painting lessons from his older brother, John J Stancin, a famous Neo-Romantic landscape painter, and by the late 60s had developed his own unique landscape style, influenced by the early Surrealists, in which his drafting skills played a large part. 

Kenneth Stancin made and sold over 5,000 original oil and acrylic paintings, and 30,000 original hand-pulled silk screens, lithographs, and etchings. His artwork was sold through various galleries, out of his own studio, door to door, and even along roadsides like the Florida Highwaymen. Stancin rapidly acquired a national reputation for his original surrealist paintings, and has been collected by Leslie Nielsen, Vincent Price, Frankie Avalon, Burt Lancaster and many others. In the 1980s and 90s, Kenneth also painted signs, billboards, and murals all over the San Fernando Valley, many of which still exist. 

In addition, Stancin was a local champion of both tennis and golf, a golf instructor, had an idea for an overhead public transportation system he called “SkyCab,” which was presented to the governor of Hawaii and considered by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, and was an inventor who was granted two patents by the U.S. Patent Office. At age 72 he became a deacon at Central Union Church in Honolulu. Ken always tried to help people by sharing anything he knew or had, so he willed his body to the John A. Burns Medical School at the University of Hawaii. 

Kenneth Stancin’s surrealistic paintings are inspired by the solar system, sports, and beyond, and he has become a notable, collectable artist. 

Note: Kenneth Stancin’s earliest paintings were in oil and signed “S Stancin”. The “S” is for Shawn, his stage name for the acting career he started early in life.