Interview: Michael Bukowski

"...and in my spare time I enjoy museum tours, removing splinters, and inspiring unspeakable dread in mortals."

Late in May you did a show of your Lovecraft illustrations at the Grindcore House in Philly. How did that go? Do you know of anyone who had dreams of lurking hideousness that night?
Haha, no one’s had the courage to admit they’ve nightmares, however the show did go extremely well. I sold about a third of the pieces at the opening and now there’s only one third left. Which may not sound too exciting, until you take into consideration that there were 68 pieces.

This is also the 3rd time I’ve shown this work. In 2007 I showed 20 pieces at Benna’s Cafe in Philadelphia and Armageddon Shop in Providence. Then, a few months later I showed a few more pieces I had done in this series at Mugshots Cafe also here in Philly. This show however, included three times as much work and I actually redrew almost all of the previous pieces.

Lovecraft was sometimes very detailed in his descriptions of his creatures’ anatomies. Other times he barely described their appearance. What were some of the disadvantages when working with little details to go on?
I actually enjoy the descriptions that are middle of the road. You know, some details but with a little room for interpretation. The Elder Things description in “At the Mountains Of Madness” is like 3 or 4 paragraphs long and even gives precise measurements for appendages. It’s a little nerve wracking to work within those limitations. Then on the other end there’s the Wamp, Voonith and Urhag, which basically get “I saw an Urhag” as a description. What I really enjoy is something like the Byakhee:

There flapped rhythmically a horde of tame, trained, hybrid winged things … not altogether crows, nor moles, nor buzzards, nor ants, nor decomposed human beings, but something I cannot and must not recall. -H.P. Lovecraft, “The Festival”

That gives me something to work from but doesn’t give too binding of an outline. Like he never says what part of a buzzard, or crow or ant….That’s up to me, as an artist.

You do a lot of artwork for punk and hardcore bands. Do you ever come across other Lovecraft fans in the scene? It seems like there should be somewhat of an overlap between the two subcultures.
Not much honestly. There was one band from Nebraska named Hercules that wanted a drawing of Cthulhu on their shirts but that’s it.

You seem to be pretty busy. Do you find the time to read at all? Who are some of your favorite writers besides Lovecraft?
I mean, I have been reading a lot of Lovecraft haha. I am pretty strapped for time, so I listen to a lot of audio books while I work. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard….I also listened to the first 2 Song Of Ice and Fire books and I have the third one. I also read a few William Hope Hodgson stories not too long ago. They were great! Oh and how could I forget, when I went to England with my partner, Jeanne D’Angelo, I read “Lurker At the Threshold”, which is one of those posthumous Lovecraft “collaborations” August Derleth did. Whoof! That was abysmal! There were some cool creatures in it, but Derleth couldn’t write his way out of a paper bag…at least where the mythos is concerned.

What would you be doing if you weren’t an artist?
I’d be dead.

Illustration of Rhan-Tegoth by Michael Bukowski. Duh.