Phone photo 2702

A very large mask by Buzz Buzzizyk on display in a private home, Butler, Pennsylvania

Morty Comix # 2608

The fate of Morty Comix # 2607 is so obscure even I don't know where it landed! But it has to be somewhere in Butler, Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, let's stroll to downtown Butler, where I placed Morty Comix # 2608 in the back cover a sample book in a print shop-- the same print shop that has printed the work of Tom Rehm, Maximum Traffic, Buzz Buzzizyk, and even the mysterious Borpo Deets.

Obscuro Bezango Show 2

I was invited to Pittsburgh to be part of a mission-- to assist Obscuro Bezango show curator Tom Rehm in setting up the exhibit at the Future Tenant gallery.

It is interesting Pittsburgh International Airport is not named after anyone. I propose they name it Borpo Deets International Airport after the mysterious West Pennsylvania art guru who apparently was a mentor to Tom, Maximum Traffic and Buzz Buzzizyk.

Anyway, I noted that a large T-Rex skeleton greeted me at Borpo Deets International Airport. And somehow, feeling like an old Newave dinosaur as I dove into this project, this seemed appropriate.

Tom took me up to his sanctuary in rural Butler County, where he had an extensive collection of art on display by Traffic, Buzz, Deets, himself, family members and friends. It is an impressive gallery I was honored to visit. Here's a sample:
 

 The ceramic coin kiln!

 A jam by Max Traffic and Mike Hill

They say an unintentional skull can be seen on the left hand side

Obscuro Bezango Show 1

The printed promo material

Note the artwork by Chad Woody and Jim Siergey

Obscuro Bezango Exhibition, Aug. 2-Sept. 1, Pittsburgh PA

Poster created by the amazing Jim Siergey

Obscuro Bezango Show!

The following press release was found in my email this morning about an art exhibit opening in Pittsburgh, PA that will be something of a landmark in the history of the Obscuro genre. I am very excited about attending this event!

Obscuro Bezango!

Curated by Thomas Rehm

At Future Tenant 819 Penn Avenue

Opening reception Friday August 2, 2013 | 7-10 PM

On display from August 2 to September 1, 2013

Free Admission

(June 18, 213) Future Tenant presents Obscuro Bezango!, a body of work by three creators in a little known arena of art called Obscuro Culture. This four-week visual arts exhibit will feature traditional sculpture, outsider sculpture, and Obscuro art and comics all unified by their singularity of vision. In addition to curating the show, Thomas Rehm will display work alongside Maximum Traffic- the assumed name of a prolific artist- and Elmore “Buzz” Buzzizyk. These three unlikely gallery-mates help carry on the underground culture of self published artists and cartoonists that arose in the advent of widely available, inexpensive photocopying, today known as Obscuro art.

Meet the curator and enjoy complimentary drinks at the opening reception FRIDAY AUGUST 2 FROM 7-10 PM. This event is free and open to the public.

Buzz Buzzizyk Is Now Online!

And he's trying to blame me for it! Well, if that's true, I'm glad!

Check out his website at: http://buzzbuzzizyk.blogspot.com/

WBG! Max Traffic! Andy Nukes!

Two news items here. First, our old friend Buzz Buzzizyk has just published the latest White Buffalo Gazette. 44 p., enlarged digest format. Includes work by Jim Siergey (nice cover, Jim!), Max Clotfelter, Clark Dissmeyer, Paul Krassner, Steve Willis, O'Ryan, Suzanne Baumann, Chad Woody, Mike Hill, Matt Feazell, Andy Nukes, Tom Brinkmann, Jeff Zenick, Kelly Froh, Delaine Derry Green, Joel Orff, Brad Foster, Mariana Weflen, George Erling, Billy McKay, Jerry Sims, Edward Bolman, Sean Bieri, Tom Motley, Buzz Buzzizyk, John Porcellino,  Blair Wilson, and Andrew Goldfarb.

Buzz can be contacted at 130 Short St., Butler, PA 16001

Secondly, our comrade Maximum Traffic, apparently while visiting Florida, met with the amazing Andy Nukes! Max is the one in the hat.

Buzz Buzzizyk art and coin

Buzz sent me this great Morty Comix spinoff, with a comment on the Presidential campaign.

It was folded in a creative way, so I hope I got the order right.

SPACE 2011 Report, pt. 16

The rest of Sunday was a long goodbye with some winding down.

Above: Hillary with her Dad, Buzz Buzzizyk. This is my favorite photo taken at SPACE. By this time they were both so tired it was hard to tell who was guiding who. We'll meet again, hopefully here in the Pacific Northwest.


Above: Josh Blair was able to give me an almost encyclopedic description of goetta. I was very impressed! Obviously he lives in the Cincinnati area.

Above: I watched Colin Upton's table for awhile, and while he was gone I pretended to be him and told everyone how that as a resident of British Columbia I was delighted to have Randy and Evi Quaid as neighbors! Actually, I think Colin was sort of weirded out about how many times I brought up the Quaids, since I'm very fascinated by their case. OK, I'm lying, I didn't pretend to be Colin, but I did watch his table for a brief time and got to meet the guy at the next table, Andrew Fraser. The production values on Andrew's books really knocked me out. The face of small press has really changed. Still, there is something about black and white photocopy that remains magic for me.

Above: I believe this is the first time in my long comic art life that I have had table space to sell comix.


Above: Colin came back with hot tea (hey, he really is Canadian!), and promptly scalded his hand for life after I bumped into him. Here he is recovering while talking with Michelangelo Cicerone. I had the pleasure of having dinner with Michelangelo and his wife Ryan the previous evening.

SPACE 2011 Report, pt. 11

The much anticipated arrival of Buzz Buzzizyk/Maximum Traffic/Borpo Deets finally came to pass and all was well with the world. Max's arrival made an already extraordinary event become something historic for me. A lot of us sit around thinking creative thoughts, but Max actually has the energy and discipline to give expression to his visions. He is one of my artistic heroes.

Although we didn't really get a chance to talk a great deal, I was thrilled to finally meet him and look forward to giving Max a tour of my corner of the world someday in the near future.

Max brought a stack of the recent White Buffalo Gazette as well as his compilation, Truth Be Known.

In the above photo Max is talking with Colin Upton. In the background Bruce is showing Mike Hill and Hillary Buzzizyk the Outside In portraits on foamboard.

SPACE 2011 Report, pt. 8

John Porcellino was our other table neighbor. I managed to get a couple photos of him during the rare times he wasn't surrounded by fans. It was gratifying to see that his work attracted a lot of well-deserved attention. And unlike my old guy corner, John's table was a magnet for a good mix of generations and gender.

A mob of cartoonists invaded an unsuspecting Vietnamese restaurant that evening. I sat at the end of the table across from John and Buzz Buzzizyk. I enjoyed talking with him and realized later that we hardly mentioned comix at all. We were also in awe of Sean Bieri, who was sitting next to me, creating brilliant off the cuff drawings in spontaneous jams. Matt Feazell sat on my other side but had to move since the chair and floor were conspiring to eat him alive.

White Buffalo Gazette news

A year ago Michael Dowers revived interest in Newave comix with the compilation Newave! The Undergound Mini Comix of the 1980s.

And now in 2011 Butler, Pennsylvania artist Maximum Traffic/Buzz Buzzizyk/Borpo Deets has produced 100 copies of a collection that will revive interest in the post-Newave comix of the 1990s, a genre known by many of us as Obscuro comix. Although most of the art in this book appears to be from the Century 21, many of the artists come from the Newave/Obscuro era.

It is an impressive and beautiful work. Over 160 pages in enlarged digest format. In fact, this is the very same kind of size and binding I'm thinking of for my own compilations, giving the graphics room to breathe. A very good choice in delivering the artistic goods.

Bravo Max! I admire the way you give life to your creative visions.

City Limits Gazette/White Buffalo Gazette History, Pt. 3-4

John Porcellino completes his history of City Limits Gazette/White Buffalo Gazette with two more parts.

Part 3 includes interviews with Edward Bolman, Cat Noel, Jeff Zenick, Larned Justin, Buzz Buzzyzik/Maximum Traffic/Borpo Deets.

Part 4 is a look at the amazing Millennium issue of White Buffalo Gazette.

Nice work, John! I salute you. This is a slice of first-person comix history that might otherwise have been lost without your efforts.

City Limits Gazette/White Buffalo Gazette History, Pt. 2

The second installment of John Porcellino's history of City Limits Gazette/White Buffalo Gazette was posted today.

This one features an interview with one of my favorite people in the Land of Obscuro Comix, the amazing Maximum Traffic/Buzz Buzzizyk/Borpo Deets.

Nice work, John! Glad to see someone documenting Max's significant contribution in broadening our understanding of what comic art can be.

City Limits Gazette/White Buffalo Gazette History, Pt. 1

John Porcellino began his three part history of the City Limits Gazette/White Buffalo Gazette continuum today.

Part 1 covers the founding of CLG by Bruce Chrislip and the subsequent revival by yours truly.

It is on his blog, Maybe Blogging Will Help.

According to John: "Part Two will be a long interview with Max/Buzz and Part Three will cover post-Max editors etc. They will go up soon, I'm still waiting to hear from Zenick."

A nice job of putting together a piece of obscuro comix history. I'm eager to read the Maximum Traffic interview in the next round.