It's almost difficult to find a car show photo without at least one Art Himsl paint job in the background. And once present, they're not too difficult to spot: Hallmarks like vivid pearlescent colors, flowing ribbons, and 3-D flames mark Art's work as some of the most creative designs ever rendered. Often dubbed psychedelic due to the era coinciding with his rise to prominence, Art's work is more surreal than anything. When described, Art's color juxtapositions and combinations seem almost unnatural. When seen, they're flat-out mind blowing. After all, precedence seldom, if ever, influences Art's art.
Art was born in March 21, 1940, in St. Cloud, Minnesota, the son of an FBI agent. "By the time the war was over, he didn't want to stay in the agency. So with four kids and a wife, he quit the FBI and moved us all to San Diego in 1946," Art says. Apparently Southern California's climate wasn't quite right either since, in 1949 or 1950, Art's dad relocated the family up north to Concord, where they stayed with Art's aunt and uncle in their house for about six months.
Art, like many a car-crazy kid in the mid-'50s, found the best use for his schoolbooks: to conceal pint-sized automotive publications. Instead of using high school to hone his academic skills, he used his classmates' cars to implement the latest pinstriping ideas he learned in the little pages. By the time he graduated, Art had no less than four cars and two motorcycles in his stable-and a budding career.
"For some reason people assumed that just because you pinstriped, you knew how to paint as well," Art says. With that as a motivator, he picked up a paint gun. "I just started teaching myself."
While he met some success at first, the road was admittedly rough. "I'd do real well on a job and then the next five would just fight me. So I decided to enroll in the College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland to take some color theory classes," he shares. While Art's college career didn't last more than a few years, it gave him several important things-primarily the opportunity to meet Ellen, his soon-to-be wife. "We just hit it off. We've been together ever since."
Over the next few years he used his color skills and made a name for himself shooting cars. Art's younger brother, Mickey, built a cut-down T touring and Art shot it a chartreuse and violet metalflake and upholstered the car in white Naugahyde. Rod & Custom prominently featured the 308-inch Flathead-powered job on the cover of the June 1963 issue with a feature titled "Eye Catcher."
Art opened a part-time shop in his home garage in about 1963 and landed a painting job at Aerojet in San Ramon, California. "During the day I'd work a regular job painting rockets, lab equipment, or white lines in the employee parking lot," he says. "At night I'd come home and pursue my true ambition: painting custom cars. This was my passion and by 1965 or so I realized Aerojet was buying my life for $3.75 an hour plus benefits, but I was not doing what I really wanted to with my life.