Customer Reviews

Pop Surrealism: The Rise Of Underground Art

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I do not come from the lowbrow culture ,whatever that is, and have never paid it any heed. But I came across this book and my eyes have been opened. This art is NOT what I had assumed - it's clever, thoughtful, insightful, and challenging. It has an in-your-face attitude which I think held me at bay for a while. But through this book I have learned to relax, to appreciate and to enjoy. Many thanks and much admiration to Kirsten Anderson for assembling this, and for including three short but effective essays by three painters who helped me discover a whole new world lying right before my eyes.

Can't say enough terrific things about this, it's one of the best selections of modern art available. Yeah. I said modern art and not "outsider" art. Sorry kids, but that new crap we see in Artforum and in the big museums is the hellspawn of marketing, grant maggotry, the corporate world, and the new corporate academia. It has little to do with the natural evolution of Western Art. If it tickles you to think you're being a Bad-Boy/Girl/Whatever by liking this "outsider" stuff then you're falling right into their game plan, you're a niche market and they'll try to eat up this world just like they ate up "alternative music" in one big gulp. This art is the art of true Americans and that other yuck--the so-called mainsteam (which includes the pre-fab avant-garde nowadays no matter how middle-class titilating and naughty it be) is the Devils' work--the real Devil, the one that created Wal-Mart and George W. Bush.

Love this art, demand that your museums purchase it, rejoice in the fact that you'll never see some Ryden or Williams hanging in a corporate headquarters, sing Hosannas that some trendy art monkey with a Smith degree won't be writing pompous reviews using terms like "globalization" and "gender" about this stuff, wrap yourself in the red, white, and blue, and sing the Star Spangeled Banner! I just wish we could find some equivalent modern creative types with this kind of vitality in music and architecture.

(Recommended--read Paul Johnson's recent history of art, especially the bit where he talks about how the modern art world went all to hell because someone figured out how to market the bejesus out of it)

What is 'lowbrow' art? This book attempts to assemble a collection of art from an ever growing movement of artists going against assumptions of conventional art. But don't you think this is a boring book of essays. Only the first few pages are text, the rest is pure visual feast, as it should be.

Shock-full of colorful art sometimes cartoonesque and always thought-provoking, this book is destined to become known as the first collection of artist works in the vein of Mark Ryden, Marion Peck or Liz McGrath.

Also, if you like this kind of art, don't miss out on the magazine Juxtapoz. If by now you haven't been properly exposed to 'lowbrow' art or 'surrealist pop' or even 'rebel art' as we're still struggling to name it, check out this beautiful book. You won't be disappointed.

We only wish the book was thicker.

An okay introduction to the genre, with some of the originators but too many of the copycats. Artists like Anthony Ausgang and The Pizz have been trying for years to be well known lowbrow artists, which they have achieved, but with zero originality or technique. The scene is plagued with imitators and most gallerists or anthologists don't seem to sift them out. The Juxtapoz and Hi-Fructose collections are probably better.

It's on the surface and all over all around you. Mind as well take it in and enjoy it. Play with it. There isn't any escaping it really. I like the idea of taking what is around you, some of which has been spoon fed to you since you were an infant laying on the carpet in front of the TV -just a relentless onslaught of media images, memes, symbols, this American mass culture or popular culture- and regurgitating it. Throw it back up after having processed it a bit and make something interesting, maybe more interesting, out of it. Well, that is what's going on with some of this stuff. And some of it is coming from who knows where and some of it seems to be taken right off a shelf and repackaged.

Much of the art described as "lowbrow" and/or "pop surrealism" at this point has been widely visible and familiar to much of the public. So the surreal or weird becomes regular (as it often does). "Underground" in the title means not in museums or the top art galleries. I guess I don't care for the idea or metaphor of "underground". It doesn't make much sense to me, but anyway. I love some of this art, some of it not so much. If your unfamiliar and curious just check out an issue of "Juxtapoz" at Barnes and Noble or most book stores in the mall.

As far as this book goes, if you got 30 plus bucks to spend, it could make for a good coffee table book I suppose. It contains some essays worth reading if your interested in this art, including one by Robert Williams who is a central figure of the so-called lowbrow art scene. I don't agree with some of what these guys have to say, but they're interesting. There are nice selections from many of the most respected and influential artists of "pop surrealism" which, btw, is more or less refering to most of the art classified as "lowbrow", depending on who you ask.

A gorgeous compendium of the contemporary barbarians often lumped together under the "Lowbrow" banner. Whatever their critics--or admirers--call them, one fact remains: These incendiary artists continue to churn out challenging creations that spit gobs of acrylic and profane pop culture references in the face of the stodgy "fine" art world.

Word to the wise: Grab a copy now while it's still in print-- I missed out on the last two releases of similar ilk and see them now listed at $400 and up on eBay. Brutal!

My friend took me to Mark Ryden's exhibit a while back, that was when I was first exposed to this pop-surrealism genre of modern art. The exhibit really blew my mind. I wanted to learn more about this type of art. I thought this book was well put together prints are printed/positioned well and the hard cover is nice. It allowed me to familiarize myself with some of the similar or otherwise recognized artists of this genre. Good buy.

Great book to get a well laid out view of the pop art of our times.
While the mainstream media ignores low brow art as if it doesn't exist, on the contrary it is very successful amongst the many who grew up on comic books, Mad Magazine, monsters, tv shows, and so on.

A great overview book, you can't go wrong with it.

This is a great book. Lots of great featured artists with excellent examples of their work. If you have any interest in this style (lowbrow) art, you can't go wrong with this book...

This is a beautiful book with gorgeous pictures of a vast array of artists. If you enjoy this type of art, get this book.