About Slimm
DJ
Slimm Buick ~ Artist, Entertainer

Slimm Buick has been creating art in one form or another since
childhood. And, he's kept that childlike style and intent. Kids just
love him! Animals, too ...

He was born & raised in San Franciscan, as were his Father,
Richard Perkins (a retired Cable Car Gripman) and Grandfather,
Robert Perkins, a Grocer. Actually, Grandparents on both sides.
They all started in that great City by the Bay ... This might explain
why Slimm's work often has a "Western" flair, surely appropriate at
any rate, considering San Francisco is a part of the Gold Country
and about as far West as you can get!

Slimm's artwork has been shown in major museums, has been
featured in movies, and sold in galleries around the Bay Area. He
is best known for movable works of art, or "Art Bikes". These
bicycles look like they could be from the Wild West, or another
world, and his best known piece, "Rawhide" is also his favored
form of transportation. Slimm recently had his very first Art Bike,
Back in the Saddle Again, returned from the Gene Autry Museum
of the American West in Los Angeles (their focus is almost purely
Native American now - we are glad to have him back!).

Slimm is also known as a bicycle advocate, as he was a big part of
the early effort to get bike lanes in SF, rode in all the early Critical
Mass rides, did the first AIDS ride on Rawhide, and is a former bike
messenger who participated in the Bicycle Messenger
Championships.

Slimm has been collecting, repairing, staging and selling antiques
for over 20 years. He now owns a collection of over 3,000 vintage
records (R&B, Blues, Western, Jazz & more) and works as a DJ at
parties and clubs. He has also performed as a Lecturer, and for
Children's Birthday parties as a clown, and singer/storyteller.
Artists Statement

My rebellious obsession with drawing, and art in
general, surfaced in school when I should have been
doing my studies. School frustrated me because I was
labeled "hyperactive" and "dyslexic", but the truth was
that my teachers were angered by frequent questions
that they could not answer. All except for Mr.
Fredericks, or "R.F.", the San Francisco teacher who
encouraged me to keep going, and discouraged me
from taking standard “how to” classes asserting they
could “corrupt” my talent. Although I’m always learning
and trying new things, I did take Mr. Fredericks advice
and avoided traditional “art school”.

I have always been inspired by art that uses things
which might otherwise be thrown away. And, I have
always loved old stuff – antiques, collectibles, classic
motorcycles and cars, especially Delahaye, Bugatti, and
Duesenberg and, especially those customized by
people like Nudie Cohn.

The first bicycle I customized started out as a chrome
BMX and eventually became known as “Back in the
Saddle”, in honor of one of my favorite classic western
stars, Gene Autry (a lot of my work has a Western
flavor). This bike is the “grand daddy” to Rawhide,
which is the bike everyone seems to know me for. It’s a
moving, functional piece of art, and for many years was
my main mode of transpiration. Back in the Saddle is
now part of the permanent collection at the Gene Autry
Western Heritage Museum, so it’s going to be around to
view long after I’ve gone to the big ranch in the sky. I’ve
made about ten art bikes total, three of which were
recently featured in the Sony movie, Rent, filmed in San
Francisco.

I also create weird and wacky watercolors that always
seem to invoke lots of questions and laughter,
especially from children and the “young at heart”. My
"Rocketeer Wrangler" series of watercolors started
because it always seemed like Cowboys & Indians
meant “Cowboys and those darn awful Redskins”, and
that’s just not right. But, we can all hate those horrible
aliens together, safely, since they don’t actually exist (or
at least we think they don’t actually exist!). The cowboys
and aliens are set in the old west, because that’s where
almost all aliens seem to land – out in the tundra, with
tumbleweeds floating by. As a kid, I just loved Science
Fiction and old Westerns (actually still do). So, I like to
imagine what would happen if those two TV channels
got scrambled and you were stuck in between the Wild
West and outer space – where the good guys still ride
horses (or the other earth-friendly alternative, bicycles),
and the bad guys have a petroleum-powered shining
saucer for their getaway car.

My birthday is the same day as Vincent Van Gough, but
I believe art should be fun, and bring a good laugh from
time to time, instead of just buying into the myth of the
“tortured artist” doing his best work when he's at the
brink of disaster, and totally self-destructive. Life is just
too darn short for that!

For Booking Info:
510-230-8270
Slimm@SlimmBuick.com