Bodež made his first mock flyer back in 2005, but his first official flyer saw the light of day in 2008, advertising the Danes’ Hjeretstop and Night Fever gig at the then-illegal Medika squat. This was also the first show booked by Bodež, introducing a clear and comprehensive DIY approach to his work. Even though he’s been doing flyers for over 15 years, this exhibition showcases his work from the last five years, when he took his style to another level and made it recognizable to a wider audience. As the author himself simply stated: “I began investing more time, thought and effort into my work”.
At first glance, as well as the second, even though each flyer is different from the others, they present a surprisingly strong whole. Looking at them, we don’t evoke memories of cult American flyers from our record collection, nor do we recognize timeless punk motives from the eighties. Despite an occasional unavoidable pop culture reference or hommage, Bodež’s style is quite distinguished and authentic, especially within a genre where originality doesn’t come easy. It’s also hard not to notice the somewhat nostalgic motives from comic books published by Sergio Bonelli, a publishing company strongly present on the Croatian market back when Bodež was growing up. In his words: “My interest in comics still hasn’t left those boundaries”.
If we were to name drop everything and everyone that his work reminds us of, we’d definitely mention the Crass-like patchwork of Gee Vaucher or post-punk DIY aesthetics of Television Personalities and similar bands of the late seventies - even though the flyers were put together not only by the cut & paste method, but also using some similar modern design tools, mostly Photoshop. Seems like his days in the graphic design department of a daily newspaper left its mark, which is obvious from the rest of the materials used as flyer backgrounds - even though Bodež named Hrelić, the most important of Zagreb’s flea markets, as the place influencing him the most. After Bodež’s treatment, city skylines and buildings became dystopian dwellings, reminding us of David Lynch’s early phase, like we’re in Eraserhead’s backyard, whilst the macabre motives of skeletons and demons are trying to tell us - this music isn’t friendly nor nice, be it a Post punk Wednesday or Distort Zagreb. (Fitz)
Some of the bands appearing on the flyers: Rat Cage, Apsurd, Exotica, Eke Buba, Gazm, Tragedy, Red Gaze, Youth Avoiders, Cold Leather, Extended Hell, Rixe, Idiota Civilizatto, Lumpy and The Dumpers...etc.
The zine is the first release on Bodež’s new label called Autsider Produkcija which is focused on zines and contamporary international punk bands/primitive music in general.
Full color offset print on 110g. munken creme paper, B5, 32 pages.
