Meet the neighbours: Johny Midnight – Artist & Gallery owner

I’m here with Johny at Gallery Midnight on Ritherdon Road, Balham/Tooting.

The first question, where did the midnight come from?

Depending what mood I’m in there’s a few different stories, do you want the truth? It’s my middle name. I was born at midnight, my parents couldn’t decide which grandfather to name me after. Born at one minute to midnight and my dad said “no, Midnight is his middle name.” Jump forward 25 years, I’m in Chamonix, everybody gets a nickname. My friend was running a bar and apparently I used to turn up at midnight and stay until late. So he just called me Johny Midnight, without knowing that was my middle name, and it just stuck.

How long have you been here in Ritherdon Road?

It was 14 years last summer. It was tough to begin with. I’d had the gallery in Chamonix, that worked a treat, but that was a tourist resort, and if you can’t make it work there you shouldn’t have an art gallery. I felt the need for Balham/Tooting area. My wife had a flat here. Gave it a go. The turning point where I could afford the rent was the Tooting Bec Lido painting. I went to the Lido and to be fair, the coloured cabins were crying out to be painted.

Do you often get people coming in asking for something to be painted?

Yeah I’d say 50% of what I sell is commissioned. I do so many different styles, that confuses people. You don’t have so many galleries where the owner of the gallery is also the artist, and also to have, if you look at the Lido painting and you compare it the Balham Tube station painting or The Seahorse, they are completely different styles of painting.

What do you love about being part of the Balham / Tooting community?

I’ve been thinking the last couple of years the gallery has worked really well do I start to move more central London, but the reason I’m not going to move is the rent is more, the paintings are then more, do you make any more profit. But also coming to work, with my sunny side forecourt, I often paint outside on a Saturday and Sunday when people are going into the 2 bakeries Dee Light and Milk, I’m painting on the street, I wouldn’t be able do that in Central London. There’s 2 young ladies who pop in after school every day, they ask loads of questions, what am I painting, I stop and have a chat, I’d miss that community too much.

What’s your favourite painting?

It has to be the painting that I’m painting at the moment.

What plans do you have?

I decided to team with a guy called Konrad Bartelski, he was our best ever downhill skier. He became an amazing landscape mountain photographer, I teamed with him for his photos of the mountains and my paintings of the mountains. So end of ski season, end of April will have an apres ski party outside.

Johny is a cool guy, please go over and take a look. Check out the full feature on my Instagram @homeswithchuk

Gallery Midnight 12 Ritherdon Road, SW17 8QD

Follow them on Instagram @johnymidnightartist

Visit their website gallerymidnight.com

Gallery Midnight

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