MARK BODE "Bode" Train
MARK BODE – Titled "Bode” Train, 2011. Original markers and Ink over Giclee train on art paper. Size approx 36″ × 9″. Hand signed.
Mark Bode was born in Utica, New York. He is the son of the legendary cartoonist Vaughn Bode.
Mark is best known for his work on COBALT 60 and as the creator of the hit comic Miami Mice.
Bode attended The Art School in Oakland, California. His first professional job was for Heavy Metal Magazine when he was asked to color his father's black and white strip Zooks, the First Lizard in Orbit when he was fifteen. He was a fine arts major at The School of Visual Arts in New York City and studied animation and etching at San Francisco State University. His publications include GYRO COMICS, TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, COBALT 60 (the graphic novel), GWAR comics and LIZARD of OZ.
In his spare time, of which there isn't much, Mark occasionally performs the Bode cartoon concert, teaches art, plays New Orleans style piano and zydeco accordian.in the near 30 years of Mark's professional career as an artist, Marks work has appeared in HEAVY METAL, EPIC MAGAZINE, PENTHOUSE, HUSTLER , GAUNTLET MAGAZINE, WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING , GRAPHOTISM, among many, many other magazines and comics. He has had articles featuring his work in the NEW YORK TIMES, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, JUXTAPOZ and TABU TATTOO. Marks work has been exhibited in the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, the Psychedelic Solution Gallery in New York, Upper Payground Gallery in San Francisco, and has had art shows abroad in Berlin, London, Milan and Barcelona.Mark has designed multiple vinyl toys based on his fathers characters for Kidrobot and Mike Company in Japan and now Planet 6 in New York.Mark has worked with major clothing companies and has produced very popular Bode crossover lines of clothes for Marc Ecko clothing, and most recently and ongoing "Puma International " where he has designed the Cheech Wizard Puma gear that is on multiple hot pic lists internationally.
Mark has just signed a deal with Universal pictures for the rights to "COBALT 60" to be produced as a live action movie, directed by Zack Snyder of "Dawn of the Dead (the remake)", Frank Miller's "300", and now his smash hit "The Watchmen"!!! Mark is working on another chapter in the Cobalt 60 story.
About the Artist
Mark Bode
In 1975 a light left this world taking with it a magnificent universe filled with nymphs and gnomes and little creatures that lived their often tragic lives in front of our eyes. This light was Vaughn Bode. His short professional career only spans one decade from 1965 to his death in 1975. That same year in 75 a handful of graffiti artists hit the NYC subway cars with comic books in tow and decided to bust a Bode character next to their piece. The rest was history. Year after year artist after artist imitated the characters done by early graffiti writers. Soon people didn't even realize where these characters originated. Since then, Vaughns wife Barbara and son Mark started reprinting the material in the early 80s. Books such as Erotica, Deadbone and Cheech Wizard became accessible to new school writers and the Bode characters became icons in the graffiti world. No other characters are so borrowed with such fervor as the beloved Bode characters. Many of Vaughns originals were sold over a 25 year period by the Bode estate and very few original pieces exist today. Vaughn is gone but the legend lives on through his son Mark Bode. Mark revived the Bode universe that was cut short and has had his own career and string of hit comics and has been doing spray can murals and gallery shows globally, making Da Bode a brand name with world wide recognition. Mark brings those classic images back to the light in a medium that can be displayed and cherished for the new generations to come. Hence Mark and Vaughn Bodes "ICONS" Dirty Pilot presents 20 new pieces created specifically for this show recreated in a large format from the classics Bode strips.