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In the days of the "sideshow circus" era, hand-painted banners were used as a form of almost-disposable advertising. Johnny Meah, the last of the great circus banner artists, doesn't mind being called a show painter or a commercial artist (or a firebreather or a sword-swallower, for that matter), but despite his "discovery" as gallery artist in the late 1980's, don't even think of calling him a "folk artist."
GMD Studios and longtime collaborator Michael Monello of Haxan Films prefer to think of him as a "living cultural treasure" -- not just for the unique artistic vision that Johnny brought to his show painting, but also because of the repository of oral history he represents of a now lost age of circus sideshows.
Czar of Bizarre, just recently launched, brings Johnny Meah's art, perspective and experiences with the sideshow to the Web.
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All rights reserved.
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