Yard Lizard #1, 2023

Mark Bodé  

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.