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12 Midnite
Exhibitions: click to view video
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A fascination with the mythical dichotomy that exists between so-called high and low art has driven me to constantly blend techniques and approaches. An admiration for psychological advertising techniques and the rebellion against them led me to the
streets and alleyways as an illegal street artist promoting my particular political bent towards pro-human / anti-establishment symbols of personal and societal resistance.
My painting style is deceptively simple, giving the viewer a straight path
to a given message. Without having to decipher the "how", the viewer can then head straight to the often thought-provoking "what" and "why".
The pop art immediacy of the 1960s blended well with the political awareness and graffiti styles of
the cold war 80s, supplying ample imagery to draw from and a wide-open field for mixing mediums.
The use of neon lighting, more often associated with signage, advertising a product or service is, in this case, advertising a thought process,
highlighting what I consider to be the central point of the given piece. Where most art requires specific lighting, this work throws its own, demanding attention and changing the environment around it.
A life-long immersion in car culture led me
to use the rolling sculpture of the vintage American automobile as an obvious canvas, leading me to produce innumerable hot rods while at the same time incorporating that imagery into the art as characters embroiled in the constant, ongoing battle
between good and evil that is a inside all of us.
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| | Please email the gallery to view more works by 12 Midnite. |
Biography |
12 Midnite's imagery has appeared in many mediums: Neon, paintings, and custom cars have appeared in film productions, music videos, TV shows and commercials. Clients include Warner Brothers Records and The Grand ole Opry. His art has adorned clothing, lighters, hats, stickers, even Billboards, not to mention how many tattoos out there incorporate his images. 12 Midnite’s work can be found in commercial and private collections all over Canada, the US and Britain.
He divides his time between Vancouver and the country house he shares in rural British Columbia with his wife, two teenage children and dog Maully.
He has appeared in a number of documentary films covering lowbrow/ hot rod culture including “The Lowdown on Lowbrow” and “Shake, Rattle and Roll”. He is also the subject of a short documentary titled “12 Midnite on the rocks…hold the ice” and has been interviewed about his work on both television and radio in the US and Canada.
He gives occasional lectures to art students at the post-secondary level usually on the topic of alternative promotion of art.
12 MIDNITE was the owner operator of several seminal Vancouver galleries beginning with the Smash Gallery of Modern art, The Big red dot, new tiny, lucky red and the Lowbrow Garage.
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Education |
1981- 1983 University of Victoria, Fine Arts and Creative Writing
1997 ECCAD Fine Arts
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Selected Solo Exhibitions |
2011 Taking Liberties, Elliott Louis Gallery, Vancouver
2009 Big Bang, The Chapel, Vancouver
2008 Loud Lowbrow, The Chapel, Vancouver
2007 Lowest of the Low, Looks Could Kill Gallery, Calgary
2005 Americanada (Traveling show), The Space, Austen TX; La Luz de Jesus, Los Angeles, CA;
The Sugar Factory, Fresno, CA
2004 Midnite Madness: 20 Year Retrospective, Lowbrow Garage, Vancouver
2004 My Scary World (Traveling show), Perihelion Gallery, Phoenix AZ, The Plastic Factory, Los Angeles CA
2004 New Tiny Drawings, New Tiny, Vancouver
2000 Pure Evil, Lowbrow Garage, Vancouver
1999 I’ll M-I-See You in Hell, Brickyard, Vancouver
1998 Road to Ruin, Helen Pitt Gallery, Vancouver
1997 Fireworks, Grunt Gallery, Vancouver
1992 Gunland, Smash Gallery, Vancouver
1991 Nightmare World, Smash Gallery, Vancouver
1990 Mean Young Art, Smash Gallery, Vancouver
1989 Art Mad, Macewan Arts, Vancouver
1989 Television Cannibal, Arts Club, Vancouver
1988 Neon, Pitt Gallery, Vancouver
1988 Manhattan Without Money, Arts Club, Vancouver
1987 Pop Poison, Pitt Gallery, Vancouver
1986 Big Kill-O-Rama Art, Douglas College Gallery, New Westminster
1986 My Scary World, Concourse Gallery, Vancouver
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