The Pizz Passes On

Where would underground art be today without the Pizz? The OC-born, Long Beach-based artist rocked us with his crazy, surreal paintings, comics, prints, tattoo flash and album covers, bringing lowbrow art to relevance and becoming a pioneer of “cartoon expressionism.” With his tragic passing this past August, his loss leaves a cavernous hole within local and global art circles.

As soon as he could hold a pen, Stephen “The Pizz” Pizzurro became heavily invested in drawing. He dropped out of school at 17 to pursue his first big job and would later establish working relationships with two of his heroes, Ed “Big Daddy” Roth and Zap Comix originator and Juxtapoz magazine founder Robert Williams. The Pizz merged those artists' visual styles for the punk-rock generation—first in his album covers for music label Sympathy for the Record Industry and later in his own original work, which stands as a vibrant intersection of fantastical worlds: Tex Avery cartoons, tiki totems, '50s jungle exotica, '60s beatniks, surfing, souped-up hot rods, pinups, film noir, bikers and more. He wasn't called the “Lord of Lowbrow” for nothing.

Although Kustom Kulture was his wheelhouse, he'd surprise you every now and then by turning out a series of comical trading cards of serial killers, skateboard or ski designs, or even ceramicware for the Ruby's Diner chain. Whatever surface or material the project required, the Pizz met it with his unique imagination, humor and a Technicolor gloss cranked to its highest intensity. Every painting and objet d'art was unfiltered, outrageous kitsch that screamed, “Go! Go! Go!” The same wellspring of primal creativity that drove the Pizz to pursue art at 17 continued well into his 50s.

It's tough to come to terms with the loss of a talent as influential on Southern California's art scene as the Pizz's. He was the fuzzy-chinned, lovable weirdo who, in his words, was “the industrious vermin gnawing at the cheese of established convention.” Keep gnawing at the Pearly Gates, Pizz.