News Archive July 2011

Airbrush Artist Embraces The Larger-Than-Life
From: PeninsulaNewsReview.com
by Lauren Coulter
Posted: July 30, 2011

With both arms covered in tattoos and wielding a spray gun, BC airbrush artist Paul Archer is no Robert Bateman.

He's known as the "rock-and-roll artist," a moniker he clearly enjoys. Based out of Vancouver, Archer is best known for his larger-than-life portraits of famous rock stars like Sting and Alice Cooper.

But beyond that, Archer has a penchant for art that is literally larger than life. He brandishes a portfolio full of murals of rock stars and athletes, splashed across buildings around the world. During seven years spent in the Cayman Islands, he painted an entire skate park, that was visited by skateboarder Tony Hawk? and Jackass star Bam Margera?.

The only stipulation, he says, is that he likes to work "big," the larger the surface the better. His biggest work to date is a 12-story mural on the side of a building in Whistler.

"I don't know how to do anything else. I have to paint," said Archer, in the temporary studio he has set up in the basement of his parents' Land's End home.

Archer was born on Christmas Day in London, England, to a baptist minister and his wife, coincidentally named Mary Magdelene?. His middle name, amusingly, is Noel.

"I guess I was destined to do something weird," he said.

He remembers starting to draw at age five, consistantly asking for new supplies every birthday. Years later, after getting custody of his young daughter meant settling down, Archer saw an ad in the paper searching for airbrush artists to paint on t-shirts for tourists. He had never had any experience with airbrush art growing up, but learned on the job.

Nowadays, he says that he prefers airbrushing because it is faster than using a regular paintbrush, and he can use the spray gun to manipulate light and shadow.

Though he likes to work big, for Archer, that does not sacrifice realism. The best compliment, he says, came from when he did a piece on the outside of a large moving truck. The truck had been painted to look as though the sides had been ripped away and large rolls of fabric were about to fall out the back. Later, a woman who was driving behind the truck on the highway had called 9-1-1, frantic that the fabric was going to fall out onto her car.

As for the rock star-worthy portraits, he says he gets most of his celebrity work from word of mouth. His current work is a five-by-six-foot mural of Gene Simmons and his family, that Archer presented to the KISS legend at a meet-and-greet at the Great Canadian Casino on last weekend.

"Gene recognized me and knew my name, he said 'Paul, right?' and I said yeah!" said Archer.

As for the painting, Archer said: "They loved it. They had their picture taken with it, the son was extremely polite and nice - they are really nice people."

The building-sized murals are on hold for now, while he lives in Victoria to care for his elderly parents. To view some of his work visit archerairbrushing.com.