Fritz the Pear Man is the struggling artist alter-ego of Michael Dayon, the La Mesa resident who currently has his work on display at the Alpine library.
According to 79-year-old Dayon, the alter ego of Fritz the Pear Man was his way of inserting a little humor into a sometimes frustrating career as an artist. The painter says Fritz was somewhat influenced by the German-Americans he met while living in Wisconsin as a young man.
Although he spent about five months training formally with The Art Students League of New York, Dayon is almost entirely self-taught.
His financial success came primarily from selling almost 200 sculptures through the San Diego Art Institute.
Dayon says he got tired of sculpture because it has a limited range of color and subject matter and returned to painting more than 10 years ago.
He claims to make just enough these days to pay for his art supplies.
“If you’re going to become an artist, you can’t get swell-headed about it. It is hard work. Sometimes in between figuring out how to pay the bills you have to put in that hard work, even if it seems like there’s no time to paint,” Dayon said.
Now mostly retired, his work is all done on squares of cardboard, all smaller than a standard piece of paper because the sturdy base is within his budget and works well as a makeshift canvas. Although he says it is good practice, Dayon admits he wishes he could work on larger paintings as well.
The artist currently points to alkyd oils as his favorite medium, reasoning that they move well but dry almost overnight.
He muses that San Diego used to have more in the way of art galleries.
“I wish the people in San Diego would support art more, support the artists, buy more. There used to be more art galleries in San Diego, more shows. These days there isn’t as much out there,” Dayon says.
Anyone interested in owning an original piece of his work can find index-card sized freebies sitting in a simple box on the checkout desk of the Alpine library, unassuming and colorful.
Dayon has a semi-permanent exhibition at the Logan Heights Library and displays his work regularly at the Coronado Art Association and is a member of East County Arts Association.