| "I’m actually not a big fan of my art. I like my graffiti, but I don’t do that as much now that I’m a parent."
The guy speaking is Vancouver lowbrow artist, country/punk musician, neon artisan and hot rod collector and builder, 12 Midnite and yes, that is his name.
Currently holding a show at Looks Could Kill Art Boutique in Calgary’s Art Central until October 30th, 12 Midnite’s work includes the uber-cool, cartoon stylized flames from 1950s hot rod art, graffiti and tiki art that everyone loves, but isn’t quite sure why.
Jennifer McCaw, owner of Looks Could Kill, enjoys the accessibility. "People love this type of art and you don’t need a degree to enjoy it. I like the scary pop images, the vibrancy and fun of his work."
12 Midnite was a graffiti artist long before he started to become respectable. In the ’80s, his spray-painted stencil of a Statue of Liberty, holding a gun with the caption "FEAR US" was all over Vancouver. His images of sperm flocking around a dollar sign, a heart and crossbones and many others made 12 Midnite famous with other illegal street artists of the day such as I, Braineater, Lincoln Clarkes, Richard Hambleton, Ed Varney and Michael deCourcey, in what was the outlaw, underground world of graffiti. His spray-bomb art found its way across Canada and the United States. Constantly "on tour" in his hot rod ’59 Impala, thundering across the plains bringing his message to unguarded walls across the land, he amused hipsters and pissed off the authorities.
"That all was a long time ago," says 12 Midnite. "Being a graffiti artist is not the same when you roll up in a hot rod and do it, people feel that I must be allowed. It’s like shoplifting with a giant coat – people assume you have permission."
Over the years, 12 Midnite's paintings of pop images, howlin' cartoon wolves, flaming evil carrots and gun-totin' Woody Woodpeckers have built a rabid cult of collectors along the west coast. "The reason why I like painting low-brow art is the obvious, identifiable art and cartoons come with a complete story already attached to it," says Midnite. "If I paint Superman in a compromising position, people will get it right away. I believe that intent is the most important thing in art."
He has had great success with galleries devoted to collecting lowbrow artists’ works, building hot rods and writing and recording raunchy, country punk music. During the launch of his show at Looks Could Kill Boutique in Calgary on September 7, 12 Midnite was asked to play at the Palomino Club. He lasted four songs, before being yanked off stage.
"I thought Calgary could use some real country music," he says. "I got the gig through a friend." Even though the audience was enjoying the music, the management, apparently were not prepared for lyrics like: "The faint of heart never fucked a pig and you can’t make honey out of dogshit."
Regardless of the lyrics, 12 Midnite plans to launch his album Sweet Turns Sour by spring "so that it won’t get buried in all the ‘best of’ CDs during Christmas." Not one to compromise, 12 Midnite is still looking for a distributor for the album, but is enjoying great success on the Internet at his website, www.myspace.com/billybillmidnite.
Even though respectability has crept up on 12 Midnite, he still looks to kick some shit and have a great time at it. "I’ve got the best life ever," he says. "All of this keeps me in hot rods and cowboy boots." |
Copyright ©2006 FFWD. All rights reserved.