Christian Slater Is a Still-Life Artist

The former teen idol actor talks about his career comeback, being a father again and sketching his wife.

John Varriano, an instructor at the Art Students League, stood behind Christian Slater’s easel, studying the lines that the 51-year-old actor had sketched. “You have chops, man,” Mr. Varriano said. “You have got to keep practicing, man.” On a steamy June morning, Mr. Slater, spruce in a white denim jacket, black slacks and green sneakers, had arrived at the art school’s home in Midtown Manhattan for a still-life tutorial. A movie star from the 1980s and ’90s — “Heathers,” “True Romance,” “Pump Up the Volume” — Mr. Slater now wears glasses and his stubble has gone gray. Behind those glasses, his eyes still have that signature twinkle — a twinkle like a floodlight — that made him crush material for misunderstood girls everywhere. When he chatted with Mr. Varriano about New York City in the 1970s or Matisse’s paper cuts, that daredevil grin surfaced, too.