Mark Beyer taught himself to draw in the first 25 years of his life without the benefit of art school training. In 1975 he proved to the world that formal education was grossly overestimated by creating and publishing his first comic: 'Tony Target'. From that time on, a not-so-steady stream of works followed. In 1980 the mini-comic 'Death and Amy & Jordan at Beach Lake' won Beyer his first fans. Among these was Raw editor Art Spiegelman, who made sure that, in addition to his own works, Mark Beyer was the one artist featured in every issue of the legendary Raw comix magazine.
Amy & Jordan in 'The Glass Thief'
After Spiegelman's 'Maus' was completed, Raw came to a sudden stop. Mark Beyer had made a name for himself, but at the same time had difficulties keeping his audience. Currently, one is lucky to come across Mark Beyer's comix and art. One of the occasions for such a lucky encounter occurred at the 1993 Galerie Lambiek exposition of Beyer's art, for which the artist made special silk-screens, postcards and paintings on Plexiglas. Mark Beyer's animated art could be seen on MTV's series, Liquid Television. Mark Beyer is best known for his "art brut" comix style, which gives his work an unmistakable cult appeal.
Amy + Jordan, 1993 (Maro Verlag)