National Fairground Archive

Airbrush Art and the Miami Trip

Popular Culture and the Fairground in the 1980s - transitional times

Whilst the 1990s saw marked new genres and practices on the fairground, buttressed by a terrific upsurge in the spectacle and amplification of pop culture on the fairground via the monopolisation of dance music, the 1980s can now be seen as a very important transitional decade. Ride technologies, social trends and popular culture came together as intense micro-catalysts and stirred up a huge reaction. Almost as a filtered product of this change, the Miami Trip ride came to exist on the UK fairground in 1990 and bridged a decade of change with a decade of pure spectacle. The ride quickly became a major dynamic in the years to come and played a very important part in the process of continuing to redefine a cultural analytical approach to the fairground and its art. Nothing short of forming a blueprint for the 1990s and interweaving a complexity of fairground issues - the new technology of the fairground in terms of shape and space, relationships between popular culture and art concerning issues such as immediacy, re-usability, viral reappropriation, and the general de-centralised and de-specialised approach to art in terms of the rise of grafitti and special effects image programming and manipulation.

The fairground has always thrived on an interaction with popular culture, attempting to mimic or recreate popular culture in various ways. This can be acheived by building up a certain 'physical' atmosphere around the ride and the fair, or by creating an aesthetic appeal to popular culture through artworks, slogans, etc. Since the 1950s popular culture and its reinterpretation on the fairground has been dominated by music, followed by film. Such reinterpretation and atmosphere creation traditionally worked best on the enclosed space of a Waltzer or Ark ride, whereby the ride becomes a social nexus. Within this framework the crowd becomes an important part, grouped on the platforms, absorbing and reflecting the atmosphere. During the 1980s changes occured that lessened the ability of such rides to perform as a focal point - safety laws disallowed the gathering of spectators (participants in the atmosphere) on the platforms, and the existance of a singular 'powerful' music culture began to dwindle.

By the 1980s popular culture had become very fractal and specific at the same time. Music trends – the defining aspects of popular culture – became excessively ‘subcultural’ with the development of scenes such as punk-rock, ska, new romantic etc. Consumption of music and image – no matter how ‘fractal’ the particular scene – could be engaged in a constant flow of specialist magazines, records, tv programmes, clothing shops, etc – all to be experienced at home as much as anywhere else. A specific ‘crucible’ for each scene became less important, and the fairground had to re-adjust to this shift in youth culture. It could not appeal to all youth cultures at the same time, and by attempting to appeal to one (or all) youth culture it was more than likely to deter people from wanting to visit the fairground as a cool place to go.

Major films, remaining a vital influence on fairground art, became driven by sophisticated special effects – films such as Ghostbusters, Alien, Nightmare on Elm Street and Terminator being a visceral feast of effects and image technology. These films were not attributed to a particular musical subculture, but developed a strong importance in defining popular culture in terms of a slick, hi-tech, special effects based code. Pop music, meanwhile, was becoming equally technological with the rise of samplers, drum machines and synthesizers – a loud, beat-driven music that was well suited to the fairground atmosphere. Although the pop music of the time might have been despised by followers of particular youth cultures, making the type of fairground spectacle developed throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s no longer possible, the fairground was quickly reverberating to electronic music with heavy bass and drum patterns. Sound systems and lighting rigs on the rides became predominant, the showmen unknowingly gearing themselves towards the rave explosion at the end of the 1980s decade.

In the same way that music and film were developing with a strong hi-tech agenda, the fairground itself soon became an arena of pure technology – this rapid rise in ultra-modern technology starting to re-define fairground art and spectacle in new directions. The development of the rides became geared towards a ‘white-knuckle’ experience and the strides taken in hydraulic technology made both the possibility of extreme and varied movement, and the reality of transporting such a ride, a dizzying spiral of progression. Rides were named as hi-tech reference points: Orbiter, Sizzler, Satellite, Tip-Top, whilst traditional artwork all but disappeared. Painted expressions of technology seemed at odds with the actual technology of the rides themselves, and for a brief period fairground art moved into the background. The spectacle of the fair however became intensified as a white-knuckle zone of pure technology, brought to life by electronic music merged with an increasing array of special effects ‘sound-boxes’ positioned on the ride.

Welcome to the 1990s - Rave Music and the Miami Trip

Just as the specialisation of music in the 1980s had moved the fairground dynamic in a different direction, the 1990s saw a unification in subcultures that took this dynamic in a new version of an old direction. The massive impact of the rave scene in effect united the youth culture of the UK, obliterating both the musical specialisms exhibited in 1980s subcultures and the distinct ‘un-trendiness’ of 1980s pop music, making the perfect opportunity for the fairground to rekindle the ‘spiritual’ spectacle of the 1950s and combine it with the advanced ‘technological’ and ‘physical’ spectacle generated in the 1980s. The fairground became a place to unite once more – to hear the latest music on massive sound-systems, to get blitzed by dynamic strobes, smoke machines and huge lighting sets, to integrate with the technology of pure thrill to a pumping soundtrack. The social climate at the beginning of the 90s was a strange picture, with 'rave' music being the public bogeyman - allegedly a pied piper leading our children to drug abuse, pirate radio, joy riding and dancing in fields at illegal events. If the fairground was ever in danger of suffering from an outdated identity amongst the nation's youth fostered through the lack of strong musical subcultures in the 1980s, then the showmen suddenly had a rich seam of cultural material to tap into – and they grabbed it with both hands. Rave music, the ‘sound of the underground’, brought along a whole new cultural experience based on the pure physicality of the music – hurtling headlong through various euphoric genres such as Techno, Garage, Hardcore, Trance and Drum and Bass. The need for a social appreciation of the music quickly outstretched the available structures, and the arena of entertainment spilled out into fields and motorway service stations, making an exciting semi-illegal cultural phenomena. The structure of the music itself relied on a physical appreciation, the classic rock or disco tune being transplanted by the seamless mix, populated with peaks and troughs of musical intensity, bleeped sequences and rave signatures. The fairground was made for such music, giving the kids a taste of the rave scene and combining it with the hi-tech riding capabilities established in the 1980s – the bleeps in the music corresponding to the ever increasing technical capabilities of the rides.

The Miami Trip emerged on the scene at this juncture, a tired import from Holland, something of a snigger when compared to the huge rides dominating fairs in Germany, but the Miami Trip exploded onto the UK scene like dynamite. There are a variety of reasons for the rides success, but most importantly it came at the right time to coincide with the UK's new found passion for loud, provocative and highly socialising dance music. In one way the ride can be described as '100% flash', so the new techniques and themes in airbrush art were suddenly foregrounded on the Miami, bringing to the public a new school of artists with an increasing spiral of ideas. On an equally important footing was the social nature of the ride, and its interaction with the crowd such that spectators become inadvertant participants. This harked back to the popularity of the Waltzer, riders and onlookers making the atmosphere, with the Miami and its forward-facing bench forming a perfect vehicle for both exhibitionism and curious enquiry. The ride created a similar appeal to a set of stocks in a town centre, a crowd curious to peer at someone's 'misfortune', the hapless bench of riders spun in large circles, legs and arms adrift, faces between laughter and distress. A final reason for the ride's success is its sheer simplicity and portability - easy to fit in (on a side ground), easy to build up, easy throughput of passengers - for the showmen the success of the ride was almost a dream come true.

As we saw from the first part of this article, the progressive dynamic of fairground art went through a 'phase change' in the 1980s. The traditional school of artwork was split in terms of how it functioned - traditional 'canvases' remained for a very ornate, although static, form of fairground art, with the continued success of rides such as Gallopers, or the need to decorate panels on round stalls. However, the more fluid end of traditional fairground art had to work with new themes using an old technique. Most of this work took place on the Arks and Waltzers - rides which were struggling to maintain the huge popularity they enjoyed up until the 1980s. A traditional approach to decorating an Ark or Waltzer would be a theme portrayed with a lettered front section - the words themselves being the main focus. The lettering would then be augmented with images or geometric patterns. The rest of the ride utilised a repeating pattern on the shutters and rounding boards - scrolls or imaginative interlocking shapes. Artists such as Pete Tei developed new 'worms' and shape systems, and introduced a more futuristic blend of metallic colours and effects. Figurative artwork on these rides was less common and often applied unsuccessfully.

Two patterns were developing that would later converge. Firstly there was a move towards faster and more intricate rides, as the fairground both renewed its own thrill factor and attempted to live up to the fast and futuristic rhetoric of the popular culture. It is easy to see this period as a 'dead zone' for fairground art, but it is perhaps better to think of fairground art in a more expansive construct - a fairground aesthetics that encompasses architecture, motion, effect, etc. A good example would be the Sizzler Twist, seen by many purists as the epitome of the death of fairground art. But previous to this mid-80s invention, the Twist had been decorated with a traditional approach of repeating patterns on the cars and handrails. The Sizzler was a statement of progression, an old ride updated to appear more slick and hi-tech. The public needed to be convinced that it was something wholly new and progressive, and painting it traditionally was not the answer. Instead, the designers went for a new aesthetic of massed lights, jagged and angular flash, ultra-functional colour schemes using black and another colour only, heavy emphasis on fibre glass and shimmering metal.

Secondly, a new form of artwork began to emerge, addressing the dominant cultural themes of the day (films such as Ghostbusters, Alien, Nightmare on Elm Street and Terminator, or Michael Jackson's film/music crossover 'Thriller') with a more narrative approach to design. Popular 1980s rides such as Matterhorns and Super Bobs, as well as the next generation of multiple deck Ghost Trains, were not suited to traditional styles of repeating patterns, and only worked with an explosive highly focussed narrative. For this to be expressed at its best the airbrush technique was required, and suddenly this form of artwork was catapulted into the foreground.

Eventually these patterns converged. The rapid development of hi-tech rides began to look towards airbrush art as something to complement its ultra modern aesthetic. By the 1990s airbrush art was appearing on many rides, but it wasnt quite holding the status it deserved. That was until the impact of the Miami...

100% Flash

The Miami can be truly described as 100% flash. The ride is a huge backflash with a single bench, and initially was only individualised through its expressive and dynamic artwork and themes. Its position on the sidegrounds also created another level of function - the rides were 'sounding boards' for up to date themes, enclosing the fairground and magnifying the attention back onto the crowd in the same way that the forward facing bench of seats fuses a bond between riders and spectators. The Miami was now mirroring the huge shows at the turn of the century, whose own intricate designs hepled 'trap' the feeling of elation and wondrous displacement that the fairground provides.

In turn the builders of the rides, and the showmen themselves, began to explore new themes of decoration and, more importantly, new artists. Innovators like Paul Wright had been painting side stuff, shows, and some larger rides (Albert Evans' Waltzer a famous example) for many years. It was only with the rise of the Miami that Paul gained the huge respect he deserves. Paul encompasses everything about a good airbrush artist working with a huge blank canvas. Unlike the traditionalists, he cannot resort to repeating designs to create a finished job. A good Miami artwork requires three stages of completion: the idea for the theme, its representation on the actual ride (use of shape, space, narrative, etc), and finally its technical execution. Each component of the process is equally important if the ride is to have the visual impact it requires. It took some of our own artists many years to knit together the three processes successfully, with some strange themes and even stranger artworks emerging along the way. But by the late 1990s the rest of Europe was taking a keen interest in the UK built and painted Miami.

Why Miami?

The name Miami stuck by pure coincidence - the KMG ride bought by Stephen Hill happened to bear that theme, and the rest is history. But another history tells us a deeper significance of the name, and gives us a first opening in categorising the myriad forms of Miami themes.

The cultural theme of Miami had already surfaced back in the 1960s with a 'Miami' Twist and the Miami Beach amusement park at Aberavon, so its connection to the fair is a deeper cultural link than the pure coincidence suggested by the 1990s phenomenom. The city of Miami has a shimmering multitude of portrayals within popular culture, underpinned by thoughts of sleaze, seduction, glamour and intense heat. The place exists as a playground for the rich, from both the USA and South America, with connotations of exiled dictators and flash-living gangsters punctuating any narrative. The image is one of blazing sunshine, wealth, glamourous clothes and cars, narcotics, and of course pumping music. Televison series fixed on the city (Miami Vice in the 80s and CSI Miami in recent years) portray the city in a highly stylised context, going to excess in all areas of representation, whilst the 'Miami Bass' sound has always persisted amongst other city-specific music scenes (Detroit, Chicago, etc). The Miami sound of course extends beyond sonic significations, through to its mode of operation - a portable sound played out by souped-up cars cruising the strips and beachfronts. This portable, bass-heavy sound continued through with the 'sound-clash' concept, lending itself to the fairground. A throbbing bass is experienced at gut level, lending itself to the gut level experiences created by the fairground ride itself - the bass, in effect, becomes a movement with the ride, meshing in and intensifying the experience.

Charlie Horne's DC Slater decorated Miami - a Paul Wright design with a Miami harbour-scene.

The theme Miami stuck with the ride, with innovative showmen and artists always managing to return to the concept and create something new. Stephen Hill purchased a new Miami from Nottingham UK in 2000 and a third machine in 2005 - both of these utilised explosive designs by Paul Wright with a seering Miami beach scene depicting glamourous women and lavish jewellry. Perhaps the most innovative of the Miami themed Miamis belongs to Billy Crow, a showman who is always respected for 'thinking outside of the box' when it comes to presenting a ride. Crow's 'Exposure' captures the frisson of the concept, with a gigolo-esque male figure in tight fitting leather trousers sprawled across the bonnet of a flash car - a bold attempt to move away from the ideally proportioned but ubiquitous disco-babes.