Bad Attitude: The Art of Spain Rodriguez

  • In Person

    Victoria B. Fender is an associate producer and editor of Bad Attitude: The Art of Spain Rodriguez.

featuring

Spain Rodriguez, Art Spiegelman, Susie Bright, R. Crumb,

Described by R. Crumb as a “working-class Latino crossed with left-wing radical crossed with crazy artist,” Zap Comix mainstay Spain Rodriguez was among those who revolutionized a hitherto disrespected, even demonized art form in the underground comics wave of the late 1960s. Their work was transgressive, provocative, sometimes offensive—and in real life, this swaggering Buffalo, NY, biker-gang member turned San Francisco counterculture celebrity didn’t fall so far from the outrageous page. Though famed for Trashman comix and other cult faves, his beautifully rendered illustrations also encompassed everything from Sherlock Holmes stories to a Che Guevara biography. In this fond yet questioning documentary, Rodriguez’s filmmaker widow Susan Stern interviews ex-girlfriends, colleagues, and buddies to measure a life lived large, as well as an artistic legacy that remains dazzling if often wildly at odds with today’s cultural norms.

FILM DETAILS 
Screenwriter
  • Susan Stern
Cinematographer
  • Vicente Franco
  • Naiti Gámez
Print Info
  • Color
  • DCP
  • 71 mins