NOIR TO ME by Jim Owens of CAR NOIR

BLACK BLOOD

Q: I like the opening of your website and what about the opening noir quote?

 I really like people to be entertained so I wanted an intro that would set the mood.

Q:  I am fascinated about how you came to start CAR NOIR.  What attracts you to the Car Noir?

The whole Car-Noir thing came from two things.

One, when I decided to focus my painting on cars I was talking with my wife one day and I said to her, "I'm not sure what to paint." She then said something that was so simple but pretty profound. She said "You have to paint what you like." Duh! Dawn breaks on marble head! So I started thinking about the kind of things I have always been drawn to; Hot rods and custom cars, anything 1940s, Movie posters, Typography, B movies and film Noir. So I just kind of shook all that up and the paintings are what came out.

Then one day I was hanging out in my studio with my friend, actor Paul Dooley (He was the dad in "Sixteen Candles", "Breaking Away" and "Runaway Bride") and he said, "These are very car noir!" I said "Man that is great! I'm stealing that from you."

I realized no one in the car scene was doing anything like it. It has kind of become my thing.


            Q: Was it a particular work of art, literature, music, turn of phrase, time or person that sparked CAR NOIR?

It was sort of everything that I have been drawn to my whole life. When I was a kid I was crazy for anything with James Cagney or Humphrey Bogart in it. I spent hours in my room watching old gangster movies and reading books about old movies. I was also interested in the paintings on those old pulp novel covers and movie posters. But they were hard to find back in those pre-internet days. You had to luck onto them at garage sales or flea markets. As I got older I began to find the artists that I was most into were illustrators like Norman Rockwell, J.C. Leyendecker and Haddon Sundblom. I'm still discovering artists that I didnt know anything about. Like Norman Saunders and Robert Maguire. Both top pulp artists. So it really was just a long journey until I found my own "Voice" by diving into what I had actually always wanted to do but didnt want to risk the problem of not earning a living in the commercial art field.


           Q: How would you define Noir?  In your own words.  There certainly is no right or wrong answer to this question.  I think we all have different interpretations of what that darkness that defines the abyss is.

Wow. That is a question that entire books have been dedicated to. Noir to me is a mood. Generally a bleak mood but I think it has a bit of a nostalgia to it. And that nostalgia allows us to view that bleakness through an amber glass. Example: Dig this phrase. "Say Mac, what's the rub?" In the 1940s that may have sounded hard or tough or threatening but by our nostalgic ear it has a humor to it, an old time mood. I like that. My wife an I will watch an old film like "Dead Reckoning" and really enjoy the dialogue for the colorful way it was written. We'll actually say out loud "Oh man that was a great line!" It is a specific style. Like the iambic pentameter of Shakespeare. If you want to see a great modern interpretation of that style check out the Cohen brothers film "Miller's Crossing". So I guess for me it is the nostalgia angle I dig. For a modern Noir that doesnt have the nostalgia factor check out "Blood Simple".


          Q: When it comes to the Noir, what most closely do you connect with your work?

I would say it is the cinematography of those old movies. I love great lighting. It is something I wish I would have had some training in. I'm still learning about it.


         Q: Do you think that people are drawn to your work based on curiosity or a shared interest in the Noir?

Generally I find that the people that buy my work are nostalgic types. I dont think it is necessarily a shared interest in Noir but people with an affinity for the things of the mid 20th century.