Description

Lowbrow is one of several names given to an underground visual art movement that arose in the Los Angeles area in the late 1970s. It is also commonly referred to as pop surrealism. Lowbrow is a widespread populist art movement with origins in the underground comix world, punk music, hot-rod street culture, and other California subcultures. The term "lowbrow" has been used to distinguish this style of art from so-called fine art. Many museums, art critcs, galleries, etc. do not currently condsider lowbrow to be a "legitimate" art movement. This may be because many lowbrow artists began their careers in fields not normally considered fine art, such as illustration, tattooing and comic books. Many times, the term art is used to refer to the visual arts. ... Surrealism is a revolution, a cultural, artistic, and intellectual movement oriented toward the liberation of the mind by emphasizing the critical and imaginative faculties of the unconscious mind and the attainment of a state different from, more than, and ultimately truer than everyday reality: the sur-real, i. ... The term fine art was first attested in 1767, as a translation from the French term beaux arts. ... The term fine art was first attested in 1767, as a translation from the French term beaux arts. ...

The majority of lowbrow artworks are paintings, with a few sculptures as well. The Mona Lisa is perhaps the best-known artistic painting in the Western world. ... Image:Greekgod. ...

History

The first artists to create what came to be known as lowbrow art were also underground cartoonists: Robert Williams and Gary Panter. Early shows were in alternative galleries in Los Angeles. Over the last 25 years, hundreds of artists have worked in this cartoony style, moving it in various directions. Mark Ryden, Tim Biskup, Gary Baseman, Anthony Ausgang, Camille Rose Garcia and many others currently work in this style. Mark Ryden in his magical studio Mark Ryden was born on January 20, 1963 in Medford, Oregon, but grew up in Southern California. ... Tim Biksup is a contemporary California-based painter and designer. ... Gary Baseman (b. ... Anthony Ausgang Anthony Ausgang is a contemporary lowbrow painter. ... Camille Rose Garcia is a Los Angeles-based lowbrow artist. ...

Lowbrow continues to grow in popularity, but is still seen by some as not part of the "real" art establishment. However, quite a few artists who started their careers by showing in lowbrow galleries have gone on to show their work primarily in mainstream "fine" art galleries. Robert Williams, Manuel Ocampo, Georganne Deen, and the Clayton Brothers are examples. Indeed, in the past 85 years, beginning with the work of the Dadaists and artists like Marcel Duchamp, artists have questioned the distinctions between high and low art, fine art and folk art, and popular culture and high-art culture. In some sense Lowbrow art is about exploring and critiquing those distinctions. For some, the label "lowbrow" is misunderstood to mean that the work itself is lowbrow, when in fact this term has always been used to ironically comment on the ongoing struggle by many lowbrow artists to subvert elitist highbrow art assumptions and values.

Even as the lowbrow artists blur boundaries between high and low culture, many highbrow artists like Lisa Yuskavage, Barry McGee, Kenny Scharf, Takashi Murakami, Jim Shaw, John Currin, and Mike Kelly use artistic strategies that are similar to those employed by lowbrow artists.

Influences/References

Lowbrow artworks are often influenced by, and make reference to, the following sources.

• Advertising
• Asian art
• Commercial art
• Comic books
• Folk Art
• Graffiti and Street art
• Kitsch
• Kustom Kulture
• Pop culture
• Retro Illustration
• Religious art
• Pulp magazine art
• Science fiction
• Tattoo art
• Tiki culture

Generally speaking, advertising is the paid promotion of goods, services, companies and ideas by an identified sponsor. ... Arts of the Far East include: Buddhist art Chinese art Japanese art Tibetan art Thai art Art of Laos Categories: Art stubs ... Commercial art refers to art that is made for the purposes of commerce. ... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... Folk Art describes a wide range of objects that reflect the craft traditions, and traditional social values, of various social groups. ... Graffiti on the banks of the Tiber river in Rome, Italy. ... Street Art defines all art developed in the streets and public spaces, usually in a non authorized way including what its usually known as Graffiti. ... Art in questionable taste is sometimes referred to as kitsch. ... Kustom Kulture is an all-encompassing term used to describe the artwork, the vehicles, the hairstyles, and the fashions of those who drove and built custom cars and motorcycles in the United States of America from the 1950s through today. ... Popular culture, or pop culture, is the vernacular (peoples) culture that prevails in a modern society. ... Retro is a contemporary term used to describe things from a bygone era. ... Example Illustration 1. ... Religious Art and the history of religious art are deserving of a page on Wikipedia. ... Pulp magazines (often referred to as the pulps) were inexpensive fiction magazines widely published from the 1920s through the 1950s. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... A Tattoo is a design in ink or some other pigment, usually decorative or symbolic, placed permanently under the skin. ... Image of Maori Hei Tiki, taken from New Zealand 1960 definitive stamp In Polynesian mythology (specifically: Maori), Tiki is the first man, created by either Tu Matauenga or Tane. ...

Lowbrow magazines, books and galleries

The magazine Juxtapoz functions as a sort of journal of the movement. Books about lowbrow art include collections of the work of artists like Robert Williams (artist), Joe Coleman, The Pizz, SHAG (Josh Agle), and Liz McGrath. There are also several books in print that survey the movement, including WEIRDO DELUXE and POP SURREALISM. Lowbrow art is shown many galleries around the United States and in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Of the over 100 galleries showing lowbrow art in the world, many are dedicated almost entirely to this kind of art. Notable lowbrow galleries include Billy Shire's La Luz de Jesus gallery in Los Angeles and Jonathan LeVine Gallery in New York. Categories: Stub | Magazines | Surrealism ... Robert Williams is a famed, controversial painter and editor of Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine. ... Josh Agle is known by most followers by the nickname “SHAG” which is how he started signing his paintings in 1987 (derived from the last two letters of his first name, and the first two letters of his last name). ...