Another Side to Devo Front Man Is on View

It has been a long time since Devo had its platinum heyday with such early ‘80s hits as “Whip It” and “Girl U Want,” but you won’t find co-founder and front man Mark Mothersbaugh fretting about it.

“I’m kind of at a lucky point in my life right now,” Mothersbaugh said Saturday, shortly before the opening of an exhibit of his art at the Sarah Bain Gallery in Fullerton.

The reason, he said, is that his time at the top of the pop heap has allowed him the luxury of indulging his creative instincts without having to worry about what will sell.

Since Devo went on an extended sabbatical in 1983 (“We just needed some time off from rock ‘n’ roll,” Mothersbaugh said), the former Kent State University printmaking student has returned increasingly to graphic arts. Since taking part in a group show in Tokyo in 1986, his first art exhibit in 11 years, he has shown his work steadily in galleries in New York and Los Angeles.

That does not mean Mothersbaugh has forsaken music. He has created seven albums of computer compositions titled “Muzik for Insomniaks,” of which two volumes were released this month on the independent Enigma label. He has also worked for TV, notably for “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” and with Japanese avant-garde composers.

And then there’s Devo (Mothersbaugh puts the accent on the second syllable). The band released its first major-label album in 4 years, “Total Devo,” during the summer, then embarked on a lengthy nightclub tour that ended in mid-January. After Mothersbaugh’s Fullerton exhibit ends Feb. 28, the band will begin mixing a live album from that tour, then start preparing a new studio album.

“Devo is alive and well,” he said.

Forsaking the band’s familiar post-industrial garb, Mothersbaugh was dressed Saturday in a natty black-and-white ensemble (including a pair of bulbous-toed black leather shoes that looked as if they might have been stolen from Olive Oyl’s closet).

Mothersbaugh was soft-spoken and thoughtful in his answers to questions in a restaurant near the exhibition.

So far, he said, he hasn’t been accused of being just another performer “dabbling” in art: “I think people realize that Devo was an art band from the beginning. For us, the medium was always second to the message.”

In 1968-73, Mothersbaugh studied art at Kent State, where he met Devo co-founder Jerry Casale. Before there was a band, the two collaborated on a silk-screen project and discussed starting an “art clearinghouse” to be called Art Devo, a “think tank for artists” that would be involved in all media, from graphics to music to film making.

“The music just kind of developed,” Mothersbaugh said, largely because making a movie is more expensive and difficult than “playing in some dive nightclub masquerading as a Top-40 band.”

Mothersbaugh had been creating postcard art since the late ‘60s. When Devo took off, he started keeping the works for himself. Working on them every day, Mothersbaugh came to view the postcards as a “personal diary.” He estimated that he now has more than 5,000.

In 1983, he started culling the collection for works to be reproduced for gallery exhibits. Some were reproduced at actual size, in series or individually, and others were enlarged to 30 by 40 inches and embellished with hidden messages and images visible only under black light. The works, Mothersbaugh said, combine “low-brow and high-brow images” that include borrowed comic-book scenes, ad imagery and, often, scatological drawings.

This year, for the first time in 15 years, Mothersbaugh is working on a larger scale. Several of his original acrylics are being shown in Fullerton, the first time he has exhibited original works since 1974. One series of works depicts Chinese soldiers in a style reminiscent of socialist posters of the ‘40s and ‘50s.

“For me, it’s a much larger scale,” Mothersbaugh said. “Once I did it, I wondered why I hadn’t picked up a brush before this.”

Saturday marked the first time in about 12 years, he said, that he had gone a whole week without producing a postcard.

Mothersbaugh said he is pleased with the general art atmosphere in Los Angeles, which he has called home since 1978. He often sees longer lines at galleries than at the rock clubs.

“To me right now, especially in L.A., the art scene has been kind of exciting,” he said. “More exciting than since I’ve been out here.”

He said he especially appreciates seeing new faces: “You’re not just seeing the same art-Mafia names.”

There are things on the music scene that Mothersbaugh also said he finds interesting. “I hear exciting stuff on the radio all the time,” especially in rap, he said.

Two new bands that Mothersbaugh singled out for praise are Laiback, a Yugoslavian band, and They Might Be Giants, a quirky Brooklyn guitar-and-accordion duo that scored a minor alternative radio hit last year with “Don’t Let’s Start.”

Showing his artistic impulse, Mothersbaugh went into more detail describing the album cover than the music. “They might be the band to watch,” Mothersbaugh said. “I’m curious to see where they go from here.”

Works by Mark Mothersbaugh will be shown through Feb. 28 at the Sarah Bain Gallery, 223 N. Harbor Blvd, Fullerton. Gallery hours: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday; 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Thursday and Friday. Information: (714) 447-4484.