Here’s a little something new we are going to be featuring on Oshkosh Horror…interviews! Bits and Pieces will feature interviews with all sorts of individuals from the horror community. For the first entry in Bits and Pieces, John ventures out of Oshkosh to the foot of the lake, Fond Du Lac. Wait, Fond Du Lac means “foot of the lake” so why the hell did I say that? Moron. Anyway, Oshkosh Horror spat some questions to a man who could be labeled an artistic Jack of All Trades, Mr. Erich Claude Polnow.

OH: Portraits, pez, life size figures, etc? What’s the deal?

ECP: As soon as I could hold a drawing tool, I was using it. I used to do only pen and ink. Then, a buddy came over in ‘05 with some pastels and told me to draw something. I reluctantly obliged and decided on Dr. Tongue. It hit me like a fever. I fell in love with color and worked on tweaking my technique over the years to what it is now. Mixed medium awesome. The content allowed me to work on advancing my skill on monsters, likeness, shading, and all of that. And it was fun to do characters I love.
The Pez? Kind of the same thing. I also had been making action figures for about 10 years or so. And when making figures of George Carlin or Jules and Vincent–heads are usually the most difficult part of the piece for the same reasons as the portraits. So, I started making Pez dispensers to hone my skill of sculpting and be able to walk away with a finished piece. Plus, not many people do Pez or 3-D sculpting these days, so it’s been fun to have a rare calling card like that.

When did your artwork start to take a direction to horror?

I think it (horror) always had an influence on me. I can remember being in kindergarten and doing the thing where you’d draw a picture of yourself in your Halloween costume and write a wide-spaced page about it. I drew myself as Jason Voorhees with a bloody machete and hockey mask. Ahh, the eighties– a time before they had meetings about what kids would draw.

What events/people have inspired you throughout your adventures?

I’d have to say Bettie Page, Gwar, Elvira, Vincent Price, Zappa, Tobe Hooper and the Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Sam Raimi and The Evil Dead, Clerks, Reservoir Dogs, NOTLD… The Ramones and George Carlin. Those two are easily the two biggest influences and have had the most impact (and started the earliest to do so) in my life. People, films, and achievements that were ideas, executed perfectly to be done in their own way. Any of those that believed in and were dedicated enough to their dreams to laugh in the face of diversity, break out of the system, and prove everyone wrong, all their to success, all the while having a blast. Do it your own way and never compromise.

What artists do you like?

Vincent Van Gogh, Basil Gogos. I actually refer to my style as Van Gogos ‘cause it looks like Basil from a distance and Vinnie up close. Then, there’s Hieronymus Bosch, Adam Hughes, Escher, Alex Ross, Olivia… Those are the heavy hitters. I do dig Jim Lee’s eye and tenacity for detail, though. And J. Scott Campbell’s T&A.

What known artist (living or dead) would you like to kick the shit out off?

Rob Liefeld.

No love for the Liefeld, huh? Can’t say I blame you. When Captain America’s pecks stick out like a pair of DD breasts, the artist deserves shit. What is your plan with your artwork? What intentions do you have with yourself and art?

I guess I just plan to do what I’ve been doing. Only make it my sole career, but keep the career of it much in the same respect as the art itself. Let it evolve, grow, expand, improve… I’ve built quite a name for myself just in selling art from out of my trunk. I don’t have the big platform to step from to other outlets. I kind of had to built art as the cornerstone, then branch from that into everything.

I want to make great horror films. Get something good out there that’s not just great entertainment, but thought provoking. Art and film usually lead to a pretentious blob of nonsense. At least to the average moviegoer–and they are missing out on great stuff. I can make something that can break that cliché.

The thing is; I want to get it out there for everyone and studios suck. They want to make what sells. So, I guess I’m making a platform that makes my art what they want to sell. Start with a bit of notoriety on 2d and 3d art, let it be known that I can write. Effects are always fun, too. Just work hard enough to build this wild fire that keeps spreading to the point where lots and lots of people demand it.

It’s going to take lots of hard work to do it that way, but that’s the long hard road I’ve decided. My way.

Wait, so you are talking about not just great entertainment but thought provoking films??? In the horror genre? What is this nonsense you speak of? Throw some examples of existing films our way, if you would so please.

Night of the Living Dead, Jacob’s Ladder… Dawn of the Dead. It doesn’t even have to have a deep meaning. Just anything worth taking a bite out of and having something to chew on for a while afterwords. Exorcist, Jaws, The Shining. I love the greats and I love movies that get people talking about it in the lobby. You don’t see that all that much when you’re talking about horror movies these days. I miss that.

Regardless if they are living or not, out of all the portraits you have done, who would you like to personally hand a print to?

Vincent Price. Ask any artist who’s attempted him, he’s next to impossible to capture without turning him into a caricature. And I actually managed to pull it off with only oil pastels. Plus; who wouldn’t want to meet him? I don’t even have to explain that part–it’s Vincent fucking Price!

One life size you’ve haven’t done but want to?

Elvira. I even have the wig, already. She is definitely the next one I hope to tackle. Her likeness is not only a challenge, but fans actually get mad if you don’t hit that just right. I have to nail her. Er… I mean… I would love to walk around the corner and see her in my room–er, On display… Uh, next question, please.

Did you really just make reference to fucking your own artwork? Or am I just looking into things too much? Eh, whatever. Favorite original pez you’ve made?

It would have to be Heath Ledger as the Joker. As far as detail, sculpting, likeness, paints, difficulty, scale, etc. I really surprised myself with that one. It’s actually kind of creepy how good it turned out. Or Gizmo.

Least favorite?

Space Ghost. Everyone always accuses me of sanding off Batman’s ears and hand painting him into Space Ghost. Well? How would you do it?

Hey, this isn’t a two-sided interview. You leave the questions to me, and I’ll leave the Pez to you. Since we are on the subject of pez, what is one flavor you feel needs to be created?

Peanut Butter.

If you could eat Pez with ANY horror movie character, who would it be?

All friendly like? Bruce the Shark. And I’m talking about Jaws, of course– and not that clown fishin’ kid’s movie.

What is your first horror memory?

When I was a kid, my old man and I used to watch tons of horror stuff. He’s one of the original rock ‘n rollin’/horror flicks/ hot roddin’ & hot chicks/50’s guys. So, I was brought up right. I remember being like 3 and watching Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein. I haven’t even seen it since, but I remember the black and white, animated vampire shadows in the opening credits and thinking “This is cool.” Karloff and Bela right off the bat (no pun intended). Watched the whole thing and that’s all she wrote. After that, I remember going down to the dime store all of time and looking at all of the sweet video box covers and my mother saying “No.” But by chance, there was the time I rented a Voltron video that had been misplaced with The Howling 2.

Ever see The Howling VII: New Moon Rising? Holy fuck that movie is terribly awesome. Speaking of which, what is your  biggest horror guilty pleasure?

Easily, Maximum Overdrive To this day, that’s the only movie I still catch shit for. Which is odd. Tell a person your into Ed Wood, Troma, and Gwar, and that’s okay. Tell ‘em you like Stephan King’s directorial debut and suddenly you suck. Killer Workout is also awesome. We came up with a drinking game for that one; take a drink every time the camera focuses on a butt.

I will fight anyone who talks shit about Killer Workout. Okay, that might not be true. What is the ONE horror movie everyone seems to like that you just can’t understand why people like it?

Saw. Everything about it is terrible.
Even the title sucks. “I saw ‘Saw‘, did you see ‘Saw‘? Remember that scene we’ve seen when we saw ‘Saw‘?”
At least after part Se7en comes out, that’ll be the end of that banter. Whoops, typo.
“I’m being held captive in a room somewhere!” Easily, Cary Elwes’ best comedic performance to date.
I could go on for a while about all of the plot holes, continuity errors, and flat out ridiculousness of those flicks, but I don’t think I’d get too many fans, myself by continuously dissing such widely popular drivel.

Your wife and you have a huge collection of everything horror and more, what are some of your most prized possessions?

Off of the top of my head–  A bit of dirt from the cemetery from the original Night of the Living Dead. A chunk of the foundation from the house they filmed the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Hard to say “most prized”. Just kind of fun to do those sort of things and the stories behind them and acquiring them makes it even more fun. They’re not just pieces of a collection, but a souvenir to a memory. It’s fun to have had it more personable.

You have made your way to many conventions through the years, what memory or two stand out as the best?

Well, the first one would have to be in Chicago 2006. After a lot of planning and help from friends and ye old flask of liquid courage we hatched a bit of a plan. Rowdy Roddy Piper was there as a main guest for They Live. I asked Piper if he would do a fella a favor, he was much obliged.
Rowdy Roddy Piper went over to Ashley (the lady I was dating at the time…) and grabbed her by the arm. She was ecstatic and confused– Doesn’t everybody love Piper?

Long story short– he asked her if she knew this man and took her over to me. She said “yes” and I dropped to one knee. Yep. I popped the old question.

Incidentally, she said yes again and we got hitched on Halloween two years later.

The second best? I gotta go with this story. It’s one of those that no one is going to believe, but it’s true. There are those that can vouch.

So, last year; we’re down in Chicago again for Flashback Weekend. I go to meet Elvira–she’s super-nice. She signs my cardboard cut-out and I give her a framed print of the portrait of her that I made.

I crouch down for the picture, right? ‘Cause she’s seated at this table… I reach my freakishly long arm around her for the photo and I had no idea her waist is so tiny. I set my hand down for the shot and instantly think:

“Wow, her waist is fucking tiny, maybe I ought to move my arm back so it doesn’t look like it’s wrapped around her like a snake…”

I move my hand back and the picture is taken. After that, she turns to me and says, “You totally just copped a feel.”

I’m all like; “Oh, shit! I’m sorry.”

She waves her hand and says, “Aw, don’t worry about it.”

My face is red after that, I had no clue, I mean–I couldn‘t have planned that any better… Ash gives me a high-five and my friend, Ben gets jealous. But, I’ll admit, I would’ve too.

Rowdy Piper helping out with your engagement and feeling up Elvira? Too good to be true. Flashback seems like a good place for memories. Let’s talk about words on pages…I mean reading. What comics are you into?

As far as comics? The Punisher, Silver Surfer, Deadpool, Ultimate Spiderman, I used to read Spawn. They still make those? Uhm… The occasional Batman series, and whatever great stuff I missed when I was drowning in a sea of variant covers in the 90’s. I find myself hitting the back issue bins more often than not, these days. Not to say the new stuff isn’t awesome, I just feel like I missed out on some great books.

What’s this about a novel you wrote?

In 2006 I got an idea for a great zombie story while I was in the shower. It took me almost a year to convey its complexities into a 20 page short story. While writing that, I remembered other zombie stories that I had jotted cliff notes into a notebook back in ’03. I dug that out and was surprised to see how well a lot of aspects could easily be tied together. “I have to make a film out of these.” I thought.

In 2007 I wrote the entire script–in half the time it took the write the 20 pages. I liked it and figured, “Sweet”. Then, I decided to write a novel from the amalgamation of all the stories that made up the script. I figured if I could get a novel published, I could have some sort of income to cover costs and have somewhat of a budget for a film. I already have an actor that’s agreed to play the lead.

The book is done, now and I’m presently working on the pen and ink illustrations. I’m very pleased with the outcome so far. My goal was “The Great American Zombie Novel”. It will not disappoint.

Say someone out there reading this is curious to find out more and/or check out your work, how do they get a hold of you?

Oh, that’s easy! Just go to www.ecp-art.com and  browse around. I have all sorts of videos, jokes, blogs, bulletins, and sales. All the art is categorized and you can even order art prints, original art, and a whole lot more right off of the site! If people still do the whole myspace thing, try out myspace.com/erich_claude_polnow.

This has been a pleasure, thanks for taking some time and popping my interview cherry. Surprisingly, it’s not as messy as I expected. This is where you make your closing remarks…

Actually, it was my first time as well. I hope I wasn’t too rough breaking you in. Although your questions were a bit gentler than I expected, I hope to do this again some time. Thanks for the chance to get give my work a bit of exposure and remember to keep it real; support independent art.