Paul Cordes Wilm has made himself known as one of Birmingham’s most thrilling painters, musicians, radio hosts, and more over the years. His creative fingerprints can be found all throughout the city. Songs from his band Nowhere Squares dance on the soundwaves of the city. His Substrate Radio show Psychic Tuesday Radio reaches ears around the nation from the station’s Saturn studio each week. Perhaps the most widespread of the creative’s works is Wilm’s art, which can be found in city murals, on the Birmingham Aids Outreach mobile testing bus, in local stores ranging from Piggly Wiggly to Charm, and in homes around the city. One of the most recognized of Paul’s projects is Saturn’s Real Alabama Music Hall of Fame wall, which recently saw the addition of three new faces in legends Brian “Voice Porter” Hawkins, Rickey Powell, and Johnny Coley.
This rapidly growing list of accolades comes from a creative passion that has been a part of Paul’s life since he was a child. “Me and my twin brother (Peter) formed a band with the next-door neighbors when we were like 7 or 8. We were called The Termites. I think we wanted to sound like the little Beatles,” Wilm shares, “I’ve basically been in bands ever since I was 7. Nowhere Squares was the first band I was in that wasn’t with my brother, and it’s also the first punk rock band I was in. I’ve always viewed being in Nowhere Squares as sort of therapeutic.” While Paul deeply appreciates the ability music and writing gives him to dance away his demons, they've always shared space in his heart with creating visual art.
Wilm had always been inspired by folk art, and got his start drawing on pizza boxes and similar materials. He looked up to artists like Mose T in Montgomery, who Wilm was able to meet around 1999. “It really shaped my art because I started painting more on found wood and using house paint and stuff like that,” Paul reflects, going on to chuckle as he recalls “The way he was teaching me was almost like a mentor even though I was only there for about an hour.” After this fateful meeting, Wilm would find himself gravitating toward his Warhol fascination and a pop-art sensibility, and began adding his signature dashes to his work. The result has been a hit called folk-pop art by many, due to its unique blend of two styles.
Caption: The Real Alabama Hall of Fame continues to grow! How many names are you familiar with from this impressive collection?
One of the most fun recurring roles over Wilms life in the last years has been being the artist for The Real Alabama Music Hall of Fame, which has been ongoing since the Bottletree days. Brian Teasley brought the idea for the wall up to Paul one day, and invited the talented creative to start coming up with tributes as he was able. “By the end of Bottletree there were only maybe like 15 or 20 of them. It was just this little part next to the stage,” the artist shares. The project picked back up at Saturn in 2017 and now features 87 bands, songwriters, and other auditory creatives. “Sometimes it’s a tribute, sometimes it’s to educate you about somebody you didn’t know, or somebody like Lionel Ritchie that you know of but didn’t know they were from Alabama,” Wilm states, “That wall gives you a reason to explore things you might not have known musically about Birmingham.”
Across the room from the Hall of Fame is a fabulous cut-out space mural that is a beautiful testament to Paul’s talent as an artist. This fun piece is a large body of work that features flashing lights, shooting stars, and Saturn’s namesake planet in the center. Paul was asked to help decorate the wall after the last works (beautiful pieces printed by Yellowhammer Creative) were damaged in an unfortunate flooding incident, and is proud of the outcome. It’s definitely a win for the whole city to have such cool art inside any establishment in our city.
Image: Grabbing a cup of coffee from Domestique and working with this beautiful work by Wilm behind you is quite the nice way to work!
In addition to his work for famed venues, Wilm is excited to get back to selling his art in person. He ventured into online sales during the pandemic, which has proven financially successful but Paul misses the feeling of getting to know the people that are buying his art. Two of Wilm’s next showings will be this Saturday at Black Market’s Spring Bazaar in 5 Points South from noon to six, then at Ferus for the Trussville Makers Market on May 1st. He’s also writing new music with Nowhere Squares, who have a new drummer in The Dirty Lungs’ Ra-Jaan Parmely and will be playing the first night of next week’s Punk Rock Art Show.
“The music and the art scene have grown a lot-especially in the last five years,” shares Wilm of his hometown city, “If the scene hadn’t changed I might have moved away, but there’s no reason to move away because there’s so much opportunity as an artist here. It’s an exciting time.” He’s interested to see what comes next in the city with more buildings becoming unique venues or art spaces, and encourages everyone to pursue their individual creativity. “Anybody that has the inclination to make art should really go ahead and do it, and not be afraid to show it,” the creative states, “People should come out and take their artistic side more seriously.”
We are glad that Paul Cordes Wilm is leading by example! Thank you for all you do for the Magic City.
Cover image from Gina Killingsworth
