About Slimm
DJ
Slimm Buick is a San Francisco native, best known for his amazing
music collection and Art Bikes, such as Rawhide, the Elvis Bike and
the Orange Barron. He also does customs for others, whether
themed, or simply a tight, spiffy one speed, Fixie or Cruiser.

These interests often collide and influence his art, whether kinetic,
sculpture, watercolor, song or visual. Slimm celebrated his 25th
Anniversary of building Art Bikes in 2011, and celebrated with the
Orange Barron, a bicycle that resembles a Cafe Racer or Board
Track Racer of (he's even getting pulled over by police who are
confused until they see the pedals!)

His work has been featured in Bay Area galleries, and throughout
Northern California, and has appeared in the famed San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Oakland
Museum and others.

Several of his Art Bikes have also appeared in movies such as Rent
(Sony Pictures, 2006) and Automorphosis (Harrod Blank, 2008) an
award-winning documentary film being shown internationally as part
of the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural
Affairs American Documentary Showcase. More recently, he was a
performer at the Green Priz in San Jose. He was also immortalized,
with a full segment, on Weird Wheels (Discovery Channel).

Slimm was immortalized by the and his works have been featured in
television documentaries such as ) and Late Nite Sinners (online).
Slimm Buick is also mentioned in several books such as Swing! (V.
Vale, 1998) along with photos and an entry in the Index of Critical
Mass: Bicycling's Defiant Celebration (Randy Albright, 2002). During
the 1990's Slimm was also a bicycle advocate/activist with the San
Francisco Bicycle Coalition. He and his wife, Justine, are currently
active members of the East Bay Bicycle Coalition, Bridge Art Space
(Richmond, CA) and founders of the Bicycle Art Salon a group
dedicated to art and cycling in the East Bay.

Slimm has also lectured on some of his favorite subjects, such as
vintage jazz, in several venues including a cruise ship with his old
friend, the late, great Cab Calloway. He has presented and given
historical lectures on Jazz, music and history of the early 20th Century
for the Art Deco Society of California, Hayward Historical Society,
The Ahwahnee Hotel/Yosemite National Park, and others. He is also
a Docent for Wilder Ranch State Park (Santa Cruz, CA).

He and his wife and singing partner, Justine tenZeldam currently
perform at parties and events, as well as open mic venues such
Martuni’s in San Francisco, and their favorite place, The Alley, a
piano bar in Oakland where they met in 2004. They also DJ at clubs,
events, weddings and more that are looking for that unique sound of
45rpm records from the  1940's through 60's.

When not performing, doing events, or creating art, Slimm likes to
repair and refurbish antiques, collectibles, lamps and record players.
He is an expert art appraiser and does his share of "picking" to make
ends meet between art and music gigs.

Slimm Buick can be contacted at slimm@slimmbuick.com or by
calling 510-323-6477
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:

510-323-6477
or
916-344-2568