Niagara (artist)

Niagara, born in Detroit, Michigan, is a painter and musician. She was the lead vocalist of the proto-punk rock bands Destroy All Monsters (DAM) and Dark Carnival. Her painting derives principally from the Lowbrow art movement.

At the University of Michigan, Niagara founded Destroy All Monsters in 1974 with fellow art students Mike Kelley and Jim Shaw and Filmmaker Cary Loren. DAM remained active until 1985, with former members of The Stooges and the MC5 on board. Niagara soon after fronted the group Dark Carnival (with guitarist Ron Asheton and drummer Scott Asheton—both recruited from The Stooges). In 2004, Classic Rock and Rock & Folk magazines named Niagara one of the "100 Greatest Front Men." She was also one of two centerfolds for Punk Magazine along with Debbie Harry. In 2014 Niagara was the inspiration for a project in March 2014 British Vogue, Cause Célèbre, produced by Kate Moss in which model Daria Werbowy stands in for Niagara.

Niagara paints with acrylic on canvas. With her use of bright colors, caricature portrayal of figures, and comic strip inclusion of words spoken by the figures, Niagara's style can loosely be described as Pop Art. The cartoon and comic panel style was famously utilized by painter Roy Lichtenstein, also a touchstone for her work. Her early 1970s work with collage, Xerox prints, and promotional materials for Destroy All Monsters influenced her later painting style; the bold, figurative images are evidence of that. The “lowbrow” aesthetic epitomized by the painter Robert Williams, which evolved in Southern California in the 1970s, also influenced her.

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