Stefan Frei: an artist between the goalposts
Seattle's star goalkeeper brings color to the pitch and his community
Words by Paula MacKay • Photos by Nora Phillips
I once read that if soccer were a literary genre, it would be poetry. Played by more than 250 million people worldwide, The Beautiful Game (known as “football” in most countries) matches grace with grit; organic style with tight lines. So what would soccer be if it were a visual art? Stefan Frei, goalkeeper for the Seattle Sounders, addresses this question with bold paint and a blank canvas.
Frei’s zeal for art has paralleled his fervor for sports since he was a child. Growing up in Widnau, Switzerland, he was captivated by the graffiti he saw from the train as he rode to school or soccer practice. “Even as a little kid doodling, I loved explosive colors,” he says. Frei was especially taken by the contrast be- tween manmade features and natural hues, like in an abandoned trainyard recaptured by nature. “Oxidized metals, the browns coming in—then you had a really vibrant pink thrown on there. I just loved that juxtaposition; it always spoke to me.”
Athleticism spoke to him, too, straight from his DNA. Frei’s parents were Olympic handball players and enthusiastically encouraged family sports. Originally enamored with hockey, Frei was converted to soccer by his older brother.
Frei’s family moved to the San Francisco area when he was 15, and his parents divorced soon after. Soccer continued to serve as an anchor despite the tradeoffs: Frei planned to major in art or architecture at UC Berkeley, but was dissuaded because, as a student athlete, it would have been difficult to do the classwork on the road. Also a fan of ancient history, he ended up with a degree in classical civilizations—which is why his body is covered in Egyptian tattoos, including the pharaoh skull on his back that helps hold “things in the past” at bay. When he turned pro after graduation, his relationship with art took on a new dimension.
No room for error
In 2009, his rookie year with Major League Soccer (MLS), Frei earned Toronto FC’s “Defender of the Year.” Today, he is widely recognized as one of the best goalkeepers in the MLS. Not surprisingly, success came with a huge amount of pressure—an equalizer among many elite footballers, but perhaps most intense for the player between the posts. “As a goalkeeper,” says Frei, “there’s absolutely no room for error.” His brother and mother gifted him a pen tablet to practice digital drawing, but it was also a game changer for stress. Frei noticed that sketching on his tablet helped him “rebalance” his brain, ultimately prompting him to deepen his commitment to art as both an outlet and a complement to his career. “The pressure is off in a way, because sometimes in art a mistake can lead to something beautiful, or you discover a new technique. As a goal- keeper, if I make a mistake, it’s never like, ‘Oh, that was cool!’”
Although perfectionism is ingrained in him as a goalkeeper and a person, Frei says he’s trying to make a play on this with his paintings. Underpaintings, in particular, are a portal to relinquishing control. “Maybe I will have two colors and use some water to let them wash together, or let gravity make some drips happen.” At one point, Frei the keeper kicks in. “The geometric shapes that come on top are ultra-precise, down to millimeters at times, which people probably wouldn’t even see. But other- wise it just wouldn’t feel right.”
When I tell Frei his paintings remind me of the substructure of soccer stands, he replies, “100 percent,” then expands upon his fondness for contemporary architecture, clean lines and harmonious angles. “If you look at the bottom of bleachers when you’re down in the catacomb, you see a lot of those angles.”
Deeper meaning
The pandemic, coupled with a complicated knee sprain, presented Frei with more down time than usual last year. The blood clots he developed were exceptionally frustrating, as they gave him no wiggle room to return to the pitch quickly. “Art helped in that first month tremendously. So did my family, obviously, and I would argue Bainbridge Island as well,” says Frei, who now lives on Bainbridge with his wife, Jenn, and their two dogs—Mobley the Great Dane and a Shar-Pei called Cloi (check out Frei’s dogs at #wrinklewednesday on Instagram and Twitter).
Frei says he processes a lot while he’s painting. One piece, aptly named “Ponder,” hangs in his mother’s living room—a dynamic palette of greens that “started out as a pond and concluded as an inspiration to ponder.”
“I have a few pieces that are just putting down some paint, feeling good, and seeing what happens. I have others where I’m searching for a deeper meaning, or I feel like I want to say something.” Frei incorporated the definition of climate change into one of his “C-Series” paintings, and his work, “Brain Corruption,” shows a man smoking a cube with tech logos on its sides—pointing to the Big Tobacco moment of social media. Frei doesn’t want to come off as preachy or political, but hopes to provide people with food for thought.
A three-time winner of the Sounders’ “Humanitarian of the Year,” Frei leverages his status as a pro athlete to support issues he cares about through art. He has contributed paintings and other creative resources to myriad local causes, from Covid-19 relief to engaging at-risk youth in making public art. “I’ve been embraced by this community and I love being a part of it,” Frei says. “I want to give back.”
