Junk Fed Brings Bazaar To State House

Anthony Apuzzo and Michael Cooper were set up next to each other at the Junk Fed Pop Culture Bazaar at the State House this past Saturday. Both of their tables were filled with items they had collected over the years but now were trying to sell to make room in their homes. They thought they had perhaps hit a bit of a snag in their plans, though. There was also a lot of stuff at the bazaar they wanted to purchase.

“Everything we make we’re gonna spend today,” joked Cooper. ​“I already bought something off Anthony!”

Such was the case when collectors met collectors, artist met artists, and fans of vintage toys, music, and clothing came together under one roof. This bazaar was the first in a new series set to run the second Saturday every month from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the State House and curated by Todd Rogers, artist, designer, and purveyor of pop culture in many forms.

“It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while” said Rogers. ​“I had a number of different places in mind, and I never really pulled the trigger on asking, and then when Carlos” — Carlos Wells, co-owner of The State House and a friend of Rogers since high school — ​“ended up opening the venue, I was like ​‘man, this is just the perfect spot.’ So I asked him, and he said yes.”

Rogers had a definitive plan for the kind of event he wanted to curate. ​“I wanted to come to it with less of a flea market-craft fair approach and more of a comic-record convention approach, and throw in some vintage stuff and make it a little different than some of the things that we already have,” he said.

The bazaar is the first event of its kind Rogers curated in New Haven. But it’s not his first foray into this arena.

“I’ve been a vendor at plenty of things, and similarly I’ve been a vendor at comic conventions and stuff. I’ve brought my art there, so it’s kind of marrying the two,” he said. I’m trying to curate a good corral of vendors, but the one constant will be me. I will be having a booth at each event, but I’m going to try to keep it so the people you saw last month aren’t going to be here this month. We are going to get them back, of course, but we want to rotate people through.”

The second bazaar is already set up for April 13 and has very few spots open.

“I’m hoping to keep the momentum going. We’re only two in booking wise, but I hope to come back to it every month just as strong,” Rogers said. He is also excited about adding to the community of already existing art shows and events in the city, including Three Sheets’s Art in the Back series, which also has its event openings on the second Saturday of each month, including a new vendor and craft fair.

“I love it!” Rogers said. ​“It will be a nice ​‘spend your day and your money downtown’ thing.”

New Haven is important to Rogers for many reasons. ​“I wanted it to be a New Haven thing. I now live in Hamden, but I’m still a New Haven guy. I moved here 20 years ago and to me it feels the most like home. And I love what Los is doing” at The State House, Rogers said. ​“There are some nights I go downtown now, and we say ​‘we’re gonna hop around and see this band over here, then go over there, and yes, I’m paying three covers a night, but I’m fine with it because its supporting venues and acts. I think it is a little bit of a scene renaissance right now, which is fantastic.”

Rogers moved to the city from Bridgeport around 20 years ago and has been in three bands over those years.

“I believe my first band was kind of a catalyst for me coming here, for practice and shows. It was natural to move to New Haven, and it was a very comfortable fit. New Haven and Bridgeport aren’t too different,” Rogers said. The music got him deeper into the art. ​“When I started hanging out here I connected with Fernando Pinto, who at the time owned the Tune Inn, and he hired me to do some of his CD releases at the time. I was thrilled. I was just out of school and here I am, even doing posters and murals at the Tune Inn. I dove in head first. I was there until about 2000, and then I ended up getting more gigs doing album covers and artwork for bigger bands, and I’m still doing that today, which is fantastic.”

And then there is Junk Fed which is an amalgam of all of Rogers’s work, play, and loves. ​“Junk Fed — with the tagline ​‘sitting too close to the TV since 1974’ — became an offshoot of all of that. I started writing about nostalgia and growing up and how all of this, my past weirdness or just being an awkward kid, informs who I am today. I started connecting now to then. I’d buy a weird old toy and I’d write a story about it or I’d just say why it was important to me. I wrote a whole article about transitional objects and things like that. So it became a fusion of all of my parts into one whole. Then the Junk Fed thing branched off even further in where I started kit bashing toys, where you take old toys and pull them apart and create new permutations, or I sculpt new parts onto them. I’ve been doing low-run exclusive pieces of art rather than an actual toy. That’s how I got into comic cons and stuff like that, so a lot of my year is just spent going off to Chicago or North Carolina or wherever they’ll have me to sell this stuff.”

Saturday’s first Junk Fed bazaar was also an amalgam of all that Rogers loves, as vendors brought their vintage toys and clothes, collectibles, original art, comics, music, and more to the floor and stage of The State House, some with experience at such events, and some with mostly personal collections they were willing to part with and share with others.

Apuzzo said his table was filled with ​“stuff I’ve accumulated in my personal collection, but it was time to get rid of it and get it out of the house,” citing his recent remodeling of a new band room as he gets back into music again and a growing family as reasons to downsize. He noted his favorite pieces to collect are monsters, Star Wars memorabilia and ​“kooky out of the ordinary stuff.” His neighbor for the day, Cooper, also cited the need to downsize due to a growing family. ​“Their toys are replacing my toys,” he said with a laugh. A member of Star Wars collector groups, Cooper has a vast collection and often deals on eBay and elsewhere online. He also had a variety of music-related items from his years in the city’s music scene as well as his own original art.

More original art was found on the opposite side of the room and in front of the stage. Anatar Marmol-Gagne and David Gagne made it a family affair as the couple showed their pieces, Anatar calling hers ​“upcycled art” and David — who creates under the title Elm City Vintage — saying with a laugh that he wasn’t quite sure how to describe his art.
​“Reclaimed, maybe?” he said. ​“Stuff you can cut yourself on while making?”

David’s pieces were made from metal items such as saw blades, tools, nuts, and shovels. Anatar typically works as a puppeteer under the title Pinned and Sewtured and has a show this coming Saturday at Cafe Nine. But she also has roots in these types of events.

“I did conventions for a long time with my puppets and fake taxidermy,” she said. ​“My father was a sci-fi toy dealer, and I grew up vending with him. It’s in my blood. I love doing this stuff.”

April Rivera — also known as Demon Daisy — brought prints, pins, stickers, and magnets that showcased her original drawings, some of which would be up later that night as part of the aforementioned Art in the Back series at Three Sheets.

Next to her, Martin Maysee — who also creates under the name Pyknic Peculiar — showed his prints, pins, and stickers of his illustrations as well as his custom figures.

“I try to do conventions sometimes, but I’ve done more art fairs this year,” he said, noting that he ​“gets to be more expressive of my identity” at events like Junk Fed. ​“They are more intimate and eccentric. I like that.”

Up on the stage, in addition to Rogers’s own table chock full of a variety of vintage toys and prints of his art, Daniel Dodd of Bristol, Ct. displayed a vast collection of vintage clothing and music that he sells under the name Big Wheel Vintage.

“Records are the hottest thing right now,” he said, ​“but I am constantly on the hunt and acquiring my collection. I find stuff everywhere and anywhere, even on the street.” He showed some pieces that had a story behind them, including a leather jacket that had been adorned with Bauhaus and Joy Division logos by an artist from Venice Beach and an MTV jacket that he was told was possibly worn by former VJ Martha Quinn.

“You never know,” he said.

Chip Crane and Josh Carlson of Redscroll Records in Wallingford also agreed that vinyl was hot right now.

“It’s gotten less specific and more diverse,” said Carlson. ​“It’s more about selling 30 different artists to one person versus a whole collection by one artist.” Their table included not only records, but some of Crane’s own personal collection of items, including Pez dispensers he had accumulated since childhood. ​“It’s the first thing I ever collected,” he said.

Thomas Fiore brought a large display of comics, art books, movies on DVD and tape, as well as toys. Dealing under the name The Hidden Base, he also runs a biannual convention at the Annex Hall called the New Haven Comic and Collectible Spectacular.

“The most popular items are Star Wars, Godzilla, and of course anything superhero like Marvel and DC,” he said. ​“I try to keep things affordable. I sell a lot of comic books for a dollar. It gets people to read more, see the art and the creative side.” He was thrilled to be a part of this event. ​“New Haven needs more stuff like this,” he said.

Krystle Olszewski came as a shopper and left as a participant. She recently started a business called Plaid on Plaid Co. that sells vintage clothing and accessories for men and women. The Junk Fed April show will be her first foray into public sale, though she also sells online.

“I like going to flea markets and these types of events,” she said. ​“It’s a great opportunity to do what I’ve always wanted as well as support a local venue and community.” She had purchased a couple of pins and patches ​“so far, but I got my eye on a couple of other things.”

She talked about the attachments people have to their own collections but also the desire to share them and the joy they bring. ​“As a collector you love your things. You want to get rid of them, but you also want them to go to a good home,” she said.

Rogers agreed. ​“I want to get things into people’s hands, connect them with their little totems from their past because that is something I take so much glee in: seeing someone pick up an object and then going, ​‘oh my God, I remember this! I had this as a kid or my dad used to play this album all the time!’ That’s just a pure joy, so that is what this whole thing is, what I’m trying to do.”

For more information about future Junk Fed Pop Culture Bazaar’s please check out the Junk Fed website and Facebook page as well as the State House website. Admission is $5 and yes, the bar will be open.