The Polaroid Kidd

Saturday night was an art auction to raise money for a documentary film by Faythe Levine, called "Handmade Nation". The film is about the DIY art, craft, and design scene happening across America. Wife and I previewed the auction online and saw there was a print by Mike Brodie, aka “The Polaroid Kidd”. There were some other great pieces we were interested in, but it was Brodie's photograph that we were drooling over.
If you've never heard of The Polaroid Kidd, just google the name and you can find any number of posts about him and his photographs of modern hobos, train jumping krusties, gutter punks, and other road weary marginalized members of society. His photos are authentic and rare glimpses into these worlds, and from what I understand, the work was created when he was just 20 years old. I’m really curious to see how his photography unfolds. Word has it that he was a bit overwhelmed with the whole gallery experience and checked out to build houseboats out of junk. Sounds bitchen…I can only hope that he is documenting it.

We showed up right when the show opened at 6:30 and looked at all the art. There were some great paintings, a croched image of a gun, and a screen print we liked, but it was Mike's photograph that really turned us on. It was a silent auction where you wrote your bid on a piece of paper which was taped to the wall under the piece. Since the bidding wasn't set to end until 9:30, we decided to go eat and return at 9:00 to see how the bids were stacking up. When we arrived, there was only one bid on the photograph for the minimum of $125 and I immediately began scanning the crowd trying to figure out who else it was that wanted it. Jodi went over and wrote in a bid at $5 over starting bid. As I was standing by on “bid-watch”, I noted a freckled girl with a bob haircut watching her, and pointed her out to Jodi. I knew by the look in my wife’s eyes that it was gonna turn into a bidding war. When it was announced that there were only 5 minutes left, the other bidder walked up to the wall, looked at Jodi's bid, and without making a move, stepped back into the crowd. Then, it was announced that there was one minute left and the bob haircut bid $135, wife immediately bid $150, bob haircut bid $160, wife $170, bob haircut $180… it was ON. The announcer yelled, “10 SECONDS”!! The two ladies stood shoulder to shoulder, out bidding each other until bob haircut realized that she was up against a madwoman who refused to lose. Wife was not leaving without that photograph. Bob haircut let her scribbling arm drop to her side, and turned away as wife’s smile stretched ear to ear. When the noise subsided, the woman looked at Jodi with a sweet smile, and said "watch yourself, cause I'm gonna jump you in the parking lot!". Jodi just smiled her big, beautiful smile and bounced up and down like a happy child. The freckled girl later congratulated us, and we talked about how much we like Mike's photos.
As everyone waited for the bids to be sorted out, a preview of the film was projected on the wall, and everyone sat on the floor drinking beer. It looks to be an inspiring and unpretentious film about people making art out of just about any and every medium. Our favorite characters were "The Knittas" from Houston, Texas. The Knittas are a knitting gang who go out in the middle of the night and cover telephone poles, street lights, and traffic sign posts with rainbow colored knitted tubes. Kinda like graffiti artists, but with knitting. They tag everything with “Knitta, Please!”, and have kooky knitter gang names, like P-Knitty, GrannySQ, PolyCotN, and MascuKnitity.

We ended up having a great time, meeting some really cool people, AND leaving with the piece we had our hearts set on. Stoked.



Soup, Paradise City 2006
By The Polaroid Kidd aka Mike Brodie