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PIZZ BIO
The Lord of Lowbrow, The Pizz
The Pizz has been around forever, it seems.
You know his work when you see it: expressive paintings, hot rod art, Hustler Honeys, tiki bar art and the like.
Eschewing much of the limelight and glitzy marketing of many of his notable contemporaries, Pizz prefers to let his art speak for itself all the while staying true to his underground roots. His art speaks volumes as he launches into various discourses and impromptu lectures on the state of the lowbrow nation.
You can discern Pizz's tendency away from the status quo if you plug into some of his influences: Mad Comics, Zap Comics, loads of cartoons, but especially Tex Avery, choppers, bobbers, hotrods, black light posters, The Cramps, Black Sabbath, Foetus, The Stooges, Big Daddy Roth and Robert Williams.
His art is not easily pigeon-holed (well, except for his obviously self-referential "Pizz Paintings"). His legend only grows as he continues to produce new artwork, most recently showing a new batch of paintings deemed "his best work yet" at the infamous La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Hollywood, CA.
If "Big Daddy" Ed Roth was the God of Lowbrow, Pizz is certainly the Lord of the movement. Original and creative, he leads by example with deft brushwork, luminous overlay of color and a keen artistic sensibility, conferring his message to his disciples like the second coming. Name a contemporary "lowbrow" artist who doesn't revere The Pizz as one of his major influences. Go ahead, we dare you.
Known primarily as a painter, The Pizz has always explored other artistic avenues including magazine illustration, commercial design for television and computer animation. He's been a featured designer on TV for the Discovery Channel's Monster Garage three times, art director for various TV commercials with credits for Peugot, Sony Playstation, Carl's Jr. restaurants and Tampax (!). He has published tons of illustrations in Hustler Magazine, Surfer magazine. Snowboarder, The Surfer's Journal, The Rodders Journal, Barely Legal, Taboo, and others too obscure. He was notorious a few years ago as the mastermind behind the Murderer's! Trading Cards, which ended up gaining Pizz the attention of such media outlets as CNN, and the somewhat dubious honor of being banned in all of Canada as a commercial artist, The Pizz has designed a multitude of album covers including designs for Bad Religion, L7, Hole, and numerous others too fringe market to take up space here, for the legendary weirdo vinyl-pushers Sympathy for the Record Industry records.
His designs have graced books, comics, tattoo flash sets, t-shirts, the team mascot for a Japanese major league basketball team, innumerable skateboards, surfboards, outlandish car-concept designs for television commercials and movies, apparel, fast food joints, watches, murals and banners, tikibar glasses and mugs...in short; anything under the sun.... and more.
Back in the day, he shifted into overdrive with high octane designs for Big Daddy Roth studios, known for his "Rat Fink" character. Although the work was signed by Roth as all his famous 60's designs done by other artists, Big Daddy allowed Pizz to tag his distinctive zig-zag signature within the art itself, as a gesture of mutual respect.
Bio ©2006
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