The Devilish and Absurd Art of James Flora

 

I 'discovered' Jim Flora's artwork by accident while wasting time in a used record store in Philadelphia, around 1986. When I wasn't digging through musty-smelling comic/bookstores, you could always find me in one of the many used record stores in Center City Philly looking for any discarded punk or classic rock album always hoping to find that gem that was missing from my growing collection. Being in college, money was always tight, so I had to be incredibly 'smart' with my money. Art supplies weren't cheap...and I had to eat (on occasion)...and let's no forget about the booze consumption, so needless to say, I was never flush with extra cash to blow on something stupid. Well, on this particular day I did, in fact blow an entire dollar on an album that was hanging on the wall, not knowing ANYTHING about the 'band' but based on the cover. The actual album inside was cracked, and scratched to hell- so it was basically unplayable. I didn't care...I was mesmerized (yeah, I know..a little dramatic, Ken. but you get the idea) by the artwork and had to have it. I figured it only cost $1, and it would look cool hanging on the wall above my drafting table, where I could stare at it while I was working on some dumb-ass assignment for class. So I bought it, and immediately threw the busted album in the trashcan outside the store and walked back to my apartment with the record sleeve. I never did hang it on the wall. I didn't want it to get ruined with pinholes, and this was before you could find prefab frames for albums-so I kept it safe with my other albums and would pull it out on occasion and stare at it when I needed to. This album cover has been with me since 1986, and has made the move to California, only to be 'rediscovered' in a long forgotten box of crap I've held onto for decades.

The infamous Album Cover

It wouldn't be until San Diego Comic-con 2004 that it would all come bubbling to the surface again...the forgotten album cover I had hung onto for almost 20 years, and finally the name of the artist who created it...James (Jim) Flora. It all happened by chance. I was looking through the books at The Fantagraphics Books booth, when the cover of this particular book caught my eye.. I immediately recognized the two figures on the cover! All of a sudden, I remembered the album cover I had bought in college, and wondered if I still had it...

Published 2004

I started flipping through the book, marveling at the artwork inside and then, all of a sudden...THERE IT WAS! 'my album cover' in all of its pristine glory, I was absolutely floored. Needless to say, I bought the book right then and there.

The CRISP image of the album cover in the book in all it's CORRECT colored glory...My head exploded!

James (Jim) Flora  1914-1998

It was the discovery of THAT book took me on a wonderful trip into the creative genius of Jim Flora. I purchased every new book that Irwin Chusid published with Fantagraphic Books and scoured the internet for anything new or missing. I had become a die-hard fan of his work, like other artists I had grown to admire; SHAG (Josh Agle), Tim Biskup, Lane Smith etc. My goal is to collect first edition copies of his children's books. His influence on my personal work has steadily begun to make itself more evident as time goes by...it will be interesting to see how far.

Published 2007

Published 2009

Published 20013

Here's a great video created by Pete Beard that lays out his entire career with great examples of his work. Basically, it's better than anything I could write- so enjoy!

 

JUNKIN', PICKIN', DIGGIN' & THRIFTIN' with my 'Better Half'

Well, I have officially reached that age where I experience great enjoyment in spending my weekends in dirty, filthy and sometimes, REALLY foul smelling establishments, searching through other people's discarded treasures for that one special item that makes the hair on my neck stand straight up...pleading to come home with me.

Recently, we went to one of our favorite haunts in Simi Valley, California called FISHY FINDS. It's the kind of place to go if you like to 'dig'. Be prepared to spend some time there...and don't go if you're claustrophobic like me....

I usually bring VLAD along for  these types of excursions, to keep me company/entertained while my wife goes off on her adventure...

My goal, during these outings with the wife, is to find books-mainly books about art or vintage children's picture books. When I find one, I usually get all tingly in my naughty bits.

VLAD was all excited because he thought he found a six pack...but unfortunately the bottles were empty. He was kind of pissed.

Luckily, we found some full bottles of 'vintage' liquor so he was happy..But he drank a little too much and passed out on top of some LINCOLN LOGS, so I left him there for awhile and did some diggin'.

Being part-Greek, VLAD has a 'thing' for Lamb...and it's kiss, woke his sorry ass REAL quick...if you get my meaning.

VLAD was beginning to piss me off. He was constantly getting himself into, let's just say,"inappropriate situations'. I was afraid we were gonna be banned from the store. The little prick can't hold his liquor, and shit like this always seems to happen! 

He couldn't find a lampshade that would fit, so he opted for some horns instead..he thought he was sooo damn funny.

He begged me to buy this box...he said it would be a perfect place to store my collection of vintage New England Postcards. I told him to stop being such a little prick, and to shut the hell up.

What I really wanted to buy, were these Clown Candles! NOT so much for the candles, (even though they were cool as hell) but for the packaging! I LOVE vintage packaging, the weirder the better. Let's face it, this had it all. Creepy Clown art AND the actual candles!

Unfortunately, I didn't buy them. WE were going to other places that day, including my favorite used book store, so I decided to hang onto my money...But if it's still there next time, it's coming home with me! I just need to find the perfect spot in my office/studio.....amongst all the other shit, crammed in there!

 

I wanna say I 'discovered' PLOP! when I was in the 4th or 5th grade...around the same time I saw my first  issue of Swamp Thing.

I was over my friend's house and we were snooping through his older brother's stuff, when we came upon his stash of Playboys and comics. While my friend was all excited about the Playboys, it was the collection of comics that excited me. You see, I had already discovered my Dad's collection of Playboys months ago, and looked through them like a deranged maniac-so, I wasn't as excited as my friend. My attention was focused on the giant stack of Horror/Sci-Fi comics in front of me. I was a 'Monster-Kid' and not into super heroes like my friends were, so I never really bought comics. But that all changed when I saw issue no.1 of Plop! It was the right amount of creepy weirdness and at the same time, very familiar. At that time I wasn't really aware of adits' names when it came to artwork etc. BUT, being an avid reader of MAD magazine, I DID recognize the styles of artwork that appeared within its pages. 

Sergio Aragones, Basil Wolverton, Wally Wood and Bernie Wrightson would soon become heroes to me, and as I grew older, I would start to collect the comics they created. 

It would take awhile, since we didn't have a comic book store in my hometown. My mania wouldn't begin until I went to college in 1984 to the City of Brotherly Love: Philadelphia, and discovered Fat Jack's Comicrypt! It would be here, that I would buy 'back issues' of all the comics I missed out on when I was a kid. I bought up old issues of Plop!, Swampthing, House of Mystery, House of Secrets. I was able to collect 22 issues of the original 24 issues of Plop! (Someday I'll get the 2 issues that I am missing, so I can have a complete set). I reread these silly comics every few years and still get a kick out of them...I still feel like a 11-13 year old idiot.

Here's Issue #1 PLOP!-enjoy