Kirsten Anderson on Pop Surrealism

http://www.myartspace.com/blog/2007/10/art-space-opinions-kirsten-anderson-on.html

Robert Williams Bio

http://www.lowbrowartworld.com/robert_williams.html

Robert Williams on Lowbrow art

http://beinart.org/info/essays/robert-williams.php

In 1979 Gilbert offered to do an art book of all my paintings. No other publishing company anywhere would dare to undertake such an unorthodox project. It was decided at that time, since no authorized art institutions would recognize this form of art, to call my book The Lowbrow Art of Robt. Williams.

There was never any intention to make the title of my book the name of a fledging art movement but, over time, that seems to be what has transpired. The original connotation was to suggest that this self-deprecating name would, over a matter of time, rise from the lowest cultural phylum of art to ironically (and much to the consternation of the art world) climb to the top–but this wasn’t a serious conjecture.

that article that gary baseman refers to...

http://www.laweekly.com/news/features/pictures-from-the-unibrow-revolution/179/

"Pervasive"

adjective FORMAL

present or noticeable in every part of a thing or place:
The influence of Freud is pervasive in her books.
A pervasive smell of diesel.
Reforms are being undermined by the all-pervasive corruption in the country.

Gary Baseman

Below is a quote from Crowndozen.com about Baseman.

"No single person has done more to help define, progress and legitimize the current movement towards accessible art than Gary Baseman. He has left his mark upon an amazing variety of mediums, from the Emmy Award winning Teacher's Pet animated series and subsequent feature film to commercial illustration for corporate heavies like Nike, Chili's and Mercedes-Benz. His 'Dumb Luck' designer vinyl toy (produced by Critterbox) has taken the collectible market by storm, selling out left and right, leading to several other toy concepts in development. Amidst all that, he's still made time for internationally staged solo and group gallery shows, contributed illustration work to Rolling Stone, The New Yorker and Time magazines and compiled and released a 350+ page book showcasing his work. He also coined the term 'Pervasive Art' and has remained on the cutting edge of this movement, helping to foster it's growth and contextualize it within the contemporary art world."

Dictionary definition of lowbrow.

"One having uncultivated tastes."
"A person who is uninterested in intellectual pursuits."
"Characteristic of a person who is not cultivated or does not have intellectual tastes."

Art that sells well.

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1662296

Quote;

"A movement to make art lacking highly cultivated and intellectual tastes acceptable."

Another interesting article

http://www.artbabyart.com/lowbrowart.html

Quote;

"That is why I believe that making art for the sake of beauty is a form of denial, and labeling a picture "Lowbrow" is an attempt to ignore your inability to comprehend ones own primordial fear. "

Interesting article.

http://www.voodoovelvet.com/supop.htm

Another definition...

Lowbrow. With its origins in 1960's hot rod culture and underground comics, Pop Surrealism has evolved into a vilified, vital, and exciting art movement. It has been created from the marriage between surrealism and pop. An art that defines it’s own new Genre, but has not yet received a single unified name.

Art History 101

Lowbrow is a movement - slowly gaining momentum - that doesn't necessarily care if The Art World recognizes it as such. What matters to Lowbrow is that most of us average people do recognize it. Anyone who has ever watched cartoons, read Mad magazine, enjoyed a John Waters film, consumed a product with a corporate logo or possessed a sense of humor shouldn't have a hard time getting comfy with Lowbrow.
Lowbrow-the-Movement has here been assigned a "circa" of 1994, as that is the year that Lowbrow artist extraordinaire Robert Williams founded Juxtapoz magazine. Juxtapoz showcases Lowbrow artists and is currently the second best-selling art magazine in the U.S. (This seems like a good time to mention, too, that Williams claims copyright on the word "Lowbrow." As both pioneer and current grandee of the movement, he is certainly entitled.)
The roots of Lowbrow, however, go back decades to Southern California hotrods ("Kustom Kars") and surf culture.
Ed ("Big Daddy") Roth is frequently credited with getting Lowbrow, as a movement, underway by creating Rat Fink in the late 1950s. During the 60's, Lowbrow (not known as such, then) branched out into underground Comix (yes, that is how it is spelled, in this context) - particularly Zap and the work of R. Crumb, Victor Moscoso, S. Clay Wilson and the aforementioned Williams.
Over the years, Lowbrow has unapologetically picked up influences from classic cartoons, 60's TV sitcoms, psychedelic (and any other type of) rock music, pulp art, soft porn, comic books, sci-fi, "B" (or lower) horror movies, Japanese anime and black velvet Elvis, among many other "subcultural" offerings.
Is Lowbrow a legitimate movement?
Well, The Art World seems to get to decide these things. Time will tell. It's worth noting, however, that The Art World didn't cotton to many movements when they first emerged. The Impressionists endured years of lampooning by art critics - many of whom probably went to their graves kicking themselves black and blue for not buying early Impressionist works.
Similar stories exist about Dada, Expressionism, Surrealism, Fauvism, the Indian River School, Realism, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood...aw, gee whiz. It'd be easier to list the times The Art World got in on the ground floor of a movement, wouldn't it?
If the test of time for legitimacy (as an artistic movement) means that Lowbrow speaks/spoke, in visual terms, to the millions of us who share a common cultural, symbolic language - albeit a "lower" or "middle" class, media-driven language - then, yes, Lowbrow is here to stay. Anthropologists will probably study Lowbrow in the future, to attempt to figure out late 20th and early 21st U.S. societal influences.
What are the characteristics of Lowbrow?
Lowbrow was born of underground or "street" culture.
The single most common tactic that Lowbrow artists employ is to poke fun at convention. They know the "rules" of art, and consciously choose not to abide by them.
Lowbrow art has a sense of humor. Sometimes the humor is gleeful, sometimes it's impish and sometimes it's born of sarcastic comment, but it is always present.
Lowbrow draws heavily on icons of popular culture, particularly those now commonly known as "Retro." Tail-end "Baby Boomers" will recognize them straight away, unless said Boomers were raised in an environment that disallowed outside influences.
Lowbrow, while it is defining itself, goes by a number of aliases: underground, visionary, Neo-Pop, anti-establishment and "Kustom" are but several examples. Additionally, John Seabrook has coined the phrase "Nobrow," and one has also seen the term "Newbrow."
For the time being, most Lowbrow art isn't sanctioned by the critical/curatorial/gallery-going mainstream. The few exceptions to this seem to be happening primarily in the greater Los Angeles area, with a smattering of southern Florida exhibitions thrown in. Juxtapoz magazine is the best bet for becoming acquainted with Lowbrow artists.
Lowbrow currently suffers something of an identity crisis, due to having a wide variety of artists lumped into it. For example, the designer of a simple, kitschy decal may be accorded the same Lowbrow designation as the artist who composes a technically masterful Lowbrow painting or sci-fi sculpture. Hopefully, this will sort itself out in years to come. Meanwhile, you might want to begin collecting Lowbrow now, for the sakes of your grandchildren.

Wikipedia states...

"Writers have noted that there are now distinctions to be drawn between how lowbrow manifests itself in different regions and places. Some see a distinct U.S. "west coast" lowbrow style, which is more heavily influenced by underground comix and hot rod car-culture than elsewhere. As the lowbrow style has spread around the world, it has been intermingled with the tendencies in the visual arts of those places in which it has established itself. As lowbrow develops there may be a branching - as there was with previous art movements - into different strands and even whole new art movements."

Terms for "Lowbrow" I have found so far.

Pop Surrealism
Artoons
Cartoon Expressionism
Imagist
Narrative Noir
Pervasivism
Cartoon Pluralism
Psychedelic Punk
Kustom Kulture
Underground
Retro Illustrational
Visionary
Neo-Pop
Anti-Establishment
Kustom
Nobrow
Newbrow
Cartoonism
Massurrealism
Acid Pop

The Clayton Brothers

A recent addition to the saatchi gallery.

Bosch

Bruegel

James Ensor

hmmmm.

not really done much here....

PRELIMINARY RESEARCH

I have decided that i want to look at the history of lowbrow art. I likes 'lowbrow art' . I want to look at its beginnings at the turn of the twentieth century. From the first comics of Winsor Mccay, to the dadaism art movement of 1916, people started to question and subvert the conventions of the fine art world. This carried on through sailor tattoos, hot rod cars and drive in theatres. Dr Seuss, and rock and roll music can all be put together under the term 'lowbrow'. People like Andy Warhol and Craig Steyk all left their imprint as did the hippy movement, which had the psychedelic concert posters. All this led up to films and shows such as Ren and Stimpy and Tim Burton's Pee Wee's big adventure. Thrasher magazine and Mad magazine also had a big impact. All of this has resulted in artists such as Mark Ryden, Gary Baseman and Camille Rose Garcia being accepted by the high-art world. I want to research and try to explain why this is. I want to look at how music such as punk influenced this movement and also what defines 'Lowbrow'.

What did you learn about the way we craft stories?

I feel that i have learned a lot about how to craft a story during this project. I have learned the technique of leading the viewer into the picture by using different angles and perspectives. I also had to make more decisions about my work and what exactly I was trying to convey. I learned to consider the opinions of others who were trying to understand my story, even if I didn't necessarily agree. From looking back over early drafts I made I have tried to summarize a scene more concisely and give more information over a shorter time period. I focused on the rhythm of the story and also tried to make the background reinforce the storyline of the particular scene; for example my first scene is bright red and dripping which reflects the characters panic of unexpectingly pooping in an open place.

Lenore by Roman Dirge

Roman Dirge is way cool. He makes dark twisted comics such as Lenore shown above. (click on them to make them bigger so you can read them) He has a dark sense of humour and has created a dark yet cute world with lots of weird critters. In an interview Dirge said 'I think it really keeps my sanity to output dark humour like that for others to see. Also, I'm kinda trying to prove a point that you can express a different kind of art style and not stick to the same crap that we see over and over again. I have been drawing Lenore for about 6 years. I've been determined to not change the humour to make it more acceptable to a wider majority. '

Dirge constructs his stories well and often uses the same frame with just a little tiny thing happening over three or four frames. This creates suspense and leads the reader straight into the joke. Dirge has a strong appreciation for the innocence of childrens stories and this is often where he finds his inspiration; ' I go to the children's sections at book stores and look through the fairy tales and fables. I always think that this is a funny visual because I have about 50 tattoos. 6 of them on my neck and throat. The little kids and their mums look nervous. Anyway, I like to take the cute stories and just "twist" them a little bit.'

Pictures and words by Roanne Bell and Mark Sinclair

I really liked this book. Here are my two favourites. (click on them to make them larger)

Michael Sieben

Michael Sieben. (www.msieben.com) Lives in Austin, TX, works for a company called Terrible One. I just really like the way he paints and the odd things he paints on, like this :- (http://www.mailmichaelsiebensentme.com/envelopes.html) and this (http://www.mailmichaelsiebensentme.com/randomcontents.html) I looked at his work a lot when i was making my most recent project. I like the way he makes characters look, and all though it had nothing to do with my last project I like the way he uses words, such as 'old chit' and 'you discussed me.'

Tim Biskup

Tim Biskup is an amazing pop-surrealist, he paints weird characters in a very painterly style.

His biggest influence is Jim Flora but he also loves Ren and Stimpy. Biskup's recent work has a taken a darker tone;

'I've been doing these more dramatic themes, and putting a lot more of myself into my work. I realized that the intensity of the images wasn't quite matching emotionally what I wanted to put into it. The emotion has ratcheted up for me. I'm exploring some really dark areas of myself.'

This has included agonizing skulls, lost girls and decapitated griffins to name just a few, all being inserted into his work.

I enjoy Tim Biskup's work and have been looking at his work more and more recently. I like the energy and oddness to his paintings, I like artists who create their own worlds especially with weird,ugly, misunderstood characters .

Gary Baseman

Gary Baseman is an amazing artist. He uses cute and cuddly characters and puts them in weird dark scenes. This creates an interesting juxtaposition and means the paintings always seem friendly in an Acme sort of way. His work is home to characters with very phallic noses, goofy wide eyed dogs, winking devils and decapitated clowns. It is the fact that the characters are so loveable and adorable that makes their disgusting actions seem ok.

Baseman claims to 'smudge the line between genius and stupidity beyond recognition' and I think this is very true. His obvious influences such as looney toons and Warner Brothers can all be found in his work, but his style is so unique and definitely influences my own work. His colours are often primary but his designs are always simple , which helps give his genuinely funny characters, such as the peg legged bunny holding a lucky rabbit foot, a charm that not many other artists can create. His world is creepy and a tiny bit sexual, but it's so cute you just want to be a part of it.

Henning Wagenbreth

Henning Wagenbreth is a German illustrator who has won several awards including 'The most beautiful book in the world' award in 1999 for his illustrations for Wolfram Frommlet's 'Mond und Morgenstern' childrens book.

Wagenbreth uses many media to create his work, he is interested in wood cuts and lino cuts as you can see in the second picture. Wagenbreth creates an atmosphere in all of his work, whether it is a moody, dark story (as shown) or a weird colourful pixellated comic about a plastic dog.

Parskid

PARSKID (www.parskid.com) is one of my favourite artists. He has created a set of characters and a style that is instantly recognisable as his own. He works a variety of different mediums but I especially like his paintings and installations. I'm not crazy about his drawing/digital work as I feel it doesn't have the character, energy or spontaneity his paintings and installations seem to have.

Parskid has done a few gallery shows and has shown several series of paintings telling stories. His most recent being the 'Fire and Ice series' which was mixed media on wood. He has an odd autographic language and tends to focus on small weird creatures in a big patterned environment. Paint sploshes and splishes are usually thrown in for good measure.

There seems to be an almost child like innocence to his work; his characters are constantly out of proportion, with their arms and legs constantly being too long for their bodies. There seems to be a theme of loneliness and wonderment in his paintings with his characters seeming to be searching for something, which could represent his own personality as art often does.

Travis Millard

Travis Millard (www.fudgefactorycomics.com) is a great artist i found in www.Juxtapoz.com about a month ago.

He creates odd scenes that don't really relate to each other but somehow tell a story. He draws weird characters but also has a strong sense of pattern in his work. He has collaborated with a bunch of cool artists such as Michael Sieben (who I will post about later) as well as a 4 year old named Cohen Morano.

Edward Hopper

New York Movie

Nighthawks

Edward Hopper is the most famous American realist of the inter-war period. He is renowned for depicting simple and mundane objects and situations, but often these situations have various dark undertones. His paintings have a very cinematic quality, and often deal with the theme of loneliness. He painted hotels, trains, roads and small gatherings of people, such as 'Nighthawks' which is shown here. This painting depicts loneliness and desolation. The way in which the characters aren't interacting with each other and just happen to be in the same room but pay no attention to one another conveys isolation. The lighting plays a big part in this painting, contrasting the cold grey dimness of the street to the unwelcoming, harsh light of the bar, creating a sense of a hostile city. This interest in lighting probably came from Hopper's keen interest in films.
Of this picture Hopper said 'I didn't see it as particularly lonely... Unconsciously, probably, I was painting the loneliness of a large city.'

THE ENCHANTED PUBLIC TOILET.

My re-invention of the 'The magic faraway tree' is called 'The enchanted public toilet'.
This is because instead of going up a tree, my characters go down a public toilet. How do they come to realise this I hear you ask? Well 'Fanny' poops in the street, runs to the nearest toilet and proceeds to empty her bowels in a disgusting public toilet. It just so happens that this is a magic toilet containing a portal to an insane magic world. An elf happens to be passing to our world, where he meets 'Fanny's' shit that goes all over his small green body. He is obviously pissed at this situation and in turn jumps out of the toilet onto 'Fanny's' sister who is now in the cubicle owing to her sisters screams. The elf steals 'Bessie's' necklace and disappears back down the toilet. The girls' brother is now in the cubicle in time to see the elf fucking off down the toilet with a rather expensive necklace. Never one to admit defeat 'Joe' jumps down the toilet too, and the sisters shortly follow. They all land in an amazingly weird world where adventures, good times, indifferent times and bit of urine ensue.

VICTOR CASTILLO

http://www.vidamaterial.blogspot.com/

Victor Castillo has a really weird, unique style, he is also influenced by Gary Baseman but his paintings have more detail and are more obviously dark. His paintings have a great atmosphere and I love the way he paints heavy/dark skies.

THE MAGIC FARAWAY TREE

THE MAGIC FARAWAY TREE by Enid Blyton

The story is about three children who live near a magic tree. The tree is home to weird creatures such as Moonface, Angry Pixie, Silky and Mr Whatsisname. At the top of the tree is a gateway to many different lands but it constantly rotates and if the land at the top of the tree moves and you're still in it, you're stuck there...forever.

The type of lands at the top of the tree differ greatly; sometimes they're amazing such as the 'Land of take what you want', and sometimes they're not so good, i.e 'Land of Dame Slap'.

The stories are still being published today and still manage to capture the imagination of small children everywhere (like it did with me) and has recently been adapted for an audio book, read by long time fan Kate Winslet.

SERGIO MORA

This painting is by Sergio Mora.
He is influenced by Gary Baseman, but he still has his own unique style.
I like the odd world he creates in his pictures, I was definitely looking at his work whilst I was painting my project.

www.sergiomora.com