Paul Archer is a guy who airbrushes huge murals for rockstars and wicked designs for their tour buses.
He’s a man with mischievous eyes and a lit cigarette in his mouth, tattooed arms in a sleeveless shirt, hands in black gloves with the fingers cut off – which are just some of the more visible attributes comprising the Vancouver-based artist’s raspy, rock ‘n roll persona.
Archer was flown up here recently, brought in to supply the very specific, talented touch he’s developed through decades of handling an airbrush. Archer collaborated with Mike Bolivar, whose family property is located southeast of 100 Mile House on Fawn Lake Road, deep in Cariboo country,
on the local classic car restorer’s newest project. Bolivar’s ranch is surrounded by quiet, seemingly everlasting acres of green field and tranquil forest. A place of peace and solitude for Bolivar, where he can work in his garage, customizing vehicles, undisturbed for days at a time. A little slice of paradise, he calls it, God’s Country in the British Columbia Interior.
Archer smokes a cigarette in Bolivar’s shop and looks over at his newest creation: a bright, silver-shining imagine of Janis Joplin, “The Queen of Psychedelic Soul”, screaming into a microphone, eyes closed, kaleidoscopic feathers in her hair.
Archer’s canvas: the hood of a red 1963 Mercury Comet, which Bolivar has been meticulously bringing back to life since last fall. On the trunk, in shining Hippie font, are the lyrics to “Mercedes Benz”, a big Joplin hit – “Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?”
Archer is known as the “airbrush artist to the stars”. He’s had a long, illustrious career, and according to Bolivar, he’s the perfect guy for this particular job. Archer has worked with rockers such as David Lee Roth, Ozzy Osbourne, Gene Simmons, Alice Cooper, Mötley Crüe, Sting and Metallica. He’s got stories about arm wrestling Johnny Depp, playing foosball with Rob Zombie, Axl Rose singing his daughter a lullaby.
His art has opened doors to very interesting worlds.
“All I ever did was draw,” Archer says, recalling a 30-year airbrushing career, and his childhood days drawing the characters he saw on television. “I’m not good at anything else.”
The vintage Comet being rebuilt belongs to a psychiatrist in Williams Lake named Vona Priest. The car has been in her family for a long time. It belonged to her grandfather once. He used to drive her to school in it. She’s had it since 1989. After years of rust-gathering and dilapidation, she wanted it restored, and found Bolivar, who started on the old Ford last fall. Bolivar talks about the car being full of mice and bird crap when he first saw it. Priest gave him instructions to basically restore it to just-rolled-off-the-assembly-line form. Plus, in honour of her grandfather, who was a very religious man, she wanted “God” in there somewhere. She saw Janis Joplin perform live in 1970 and she loves Janis Joplin. Priest thought “Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?” a nice compromise, a fitting combination and tribute.
So Bolivar, the rancher/car guy who’s admittedly not much of an internet guy, simply punched “airbrush artist” into Google. When he saw Archer’s work, he knew he found exactly who they needed.
Painting large murals is where the big money is, Archer explains. But he has painted vehicles before – including party buses, motorcycles, boats.
Archer says he was stressed about this job at first, in a remote spot, so far away from his studio and most of his equipment in Vancouver, where he also does a lot of work for the film and music industry. He was a little out of his element out here, he explains, but he settled in. It’s a beautiful and quiet place after all, and he’s thankful for Bolivar’s hospitality.
Bolivar is looking to have the Comet ready for Priest in time for an ALS fundraising event at Boitanio Park in Williams Lake on June 13. Where the fully-restored Comet is sure to catch eyes and turn heads. Custom restoration jobs like this can range from $40,000 to $250,000, depending on what the owner wants added, Bolivar explains.
“I’m very happy with the work and I’m very impressed with [Archer’s] artwork,” Bolivar says. “I can’t wait to see this thing [clear-coated].”
Fifty hours into the paint job with only a few finishing touches left to apply, Archer was also pleased with the work.
“I think I nailed it,” he says.
Priest, the car’s owner, thinks so too. She took a drive out to the ranch for a sneak peak on May 23.
Of the new paint job, she says: “Oh my God, it’s amazing.”
Of Archer: “That guy is an artist, he really is.”
