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Showing posts with label low brow art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label low brow art. Show all posts

TRASHed at Coachella 2012. Over 30 of the Artist Decorated Recycling Trash Bins.




above: artist Kozyndan's decorated recycling bin for 2012 TRASHed Coachella

Global Inheritance invited 100+ artists to decorate recycling bins for their for The Coachella Music & Arts Festival 2012. The entire collection was exhibited at the Lab Art Gallery in Los Angeles prior to being rolled out at the festival. After the festivals, these redesigned recycling bins will be donated to schools in Southern California.

Here's a look at 32 of the finished 2012 TRASHed: Coachella recycling bins:

















Details:









the above images, courtesy of Global Inheritance, have been cropped and altered for better visibility

FEATURED ARTISTS:
Ashley Macias + Ben Swenson + Brandon Sopinsky + Caitlin Kouba + Caitlyn Knepka + Cesar Torres + Chad Carother + Daisuke Okamoto + Danny Heller + Dawson Dill + Deborah Oh + Deedee Cheriel + Elvis Segarich + Eyerus + Gabriela DiSarli + Graham Curran + Jacob Livengood + James Garcia + James Jurado + Jim Truong + Joaquin Gutierrez Vazquez + Jordan Rosenheck + Kira Safan + Kozyndan + Kristina Wayte + Lester Coral + Matt Ketchum + Matt Scheiblin + Matthew Tuszynski + Megan Flaherty + Melany Meza-Dierks + Michael Pizarro + Miguel CariƱo + Nalena Kumar + Nancy Ramirez Legy + Nathan Pestana + Nori Pesina + Omar Lopez + Paul Nguyen + RISK + Ritzie Yap + Shannon Simbulan + Sophie C’est la Vie + Terri Berman + Thank You X + Tim (Leslie) Shockley + Twentyseven Studio + Yanin Ruibal + Youko Horiuchi
+++ More

The TRASHed: Art Of Recycling campaign is an ongoing recycling education program that redefines the way people view recycling and trash collection. Global Inheritance arranges the artistic redesign of recycling bins, then integrates the bins at high visibility events to encourage recycling and provide additional outlets for people to appreciate the artwork. Live paintings often occur at events in addition to the ongoing display of artist bins created beforehand.

About Global Inheritance:


Born in 2002, Global Inheritance is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that develops creative, cause-based campaigns to educate individuals about issues that affect us globally.

Our unique programs focus on the power of interactivity to communicate ideas that push for progressive social change by empowering millions of individuals at festivals, events, workplaces and schools throughout the world.

By employing technology, the arts, and experiential learning, Global Inheritance reinvents activism by inspiring people from every walk of life to act responsibly and become forward-thinking leaders within their community.

For New Year's Eve, The Party Hat In Art by 16 Artists From Jeff Koons to Redshift.



With New Year's Eve tonight and a new year of birthdays coming up, I was inspired by the notion of 'Party Hats' and wanted to see what was out there in terms of fine art that incorporated the classic pointed hat. I was not disappointed and I hope you won't be either.

Funky Find Of The Week: "Milk Gone Bad" Lamps




Milk Gone Bad:
Two different artistic experiences come together in this project. Anatomic factory’s objects meet Bombo’s illustrations, giving us food for thought on the ambiguity of products that often have a hidden second nature.

“Milk Gone Bad” is a collection of eight lamps somewhere between toys and furnishing complements. Made like milk cartons, each piece is one of a series. The light turns on to show the product’s real contents, a startling imaginary world of mold.






Each Milk Gone Bad lamp above is available for purchase here.

Is LowBrow Art Just A Fad?



Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, defines lowbrow art as follows:

Lowbrow, or lowbrow art, describes an underground visual art movement that arose in the Los Angeles, California, area in the late 1970s. Lowbrow is a widespread populist art movement with origins in the underground comix world, punk music, hot-rod street culture, and other California subcultures. It is also often known by the name pop surrealism.

The majority of lowbrow artworks are paintings; there are also toys (vinyl and plush), and sculptures.


The definition goes on to discuss the first artists to create what came to be known as 'lowbrow' art, magazines in the genre (the most famous being Juxtapoz, whose editor, Robert Williams, claims to have coined the name "lowbrow"), and 'alternative' galleries that carry these types of works.

Just so you know to whose work I am referring, some of the most well-known of these artists are: SHAG (Josh Agle), Mark Ryden, Marion Peck, Todd Schorr, Elizabeth McGrath, Tim Biskup, Gary Baseman, Gary Taxali, Anthony Ausgang, Camille Rose Garcia, Joe Sorren, Tara McPherson and Raymond Pettibon.

The Wikipedia definition goes on to historically compare the Lowbrow artists to the Dadaists.

This is where they lose me.

Now, I really enjoy looking at their works, even own a few of their books. I am entertained by their not so subtle interpretation of pop culture and their 'jabs' at historic art. I even enjoy seeing how 'creepy and offensive' some of them can get.

But since when are illustrations, comic books, tattoos and graffiti considered an art movement?

Art, yes. Movement? Nah.

Comparing Shag to Marcel Duchamp makes me cringe.


Okay, so the first time Marcel Duchamp penned R. Mutt on a urinal and called it a "Fountain", the art world was aghast at what he considered art. But he was the first (the first) to take an everyday object and ascribe some ironic meaning to it.

Jeff Koons, a well respected contemporary artist, merely did the same years later and his work has recently been rapidly declining in value. You may recall the white porcelain puppy planters or blue balloon dogs on plates that appear in online auctions weekly.



Even Nara and Murakami (two asian artists whose work treads the fine line between 'fine art' and lowbrow' art and are referred to as Neo-Pop Japanese art) have also declined in value.



Just take a look at the chart below. It is January 2007 data from artprice on auction and sales values in the art world.



So, as I was saying before I got off on an art tangent there, Did Shag have the same impact on society that Marcel Duchamp did?

To compare some fun retro cocktail party scenes or cute tiki illustrations and altoid tins to Man Ray's Photographs or Duchamp's urinal is not only a stretch, it's a disservice to the fine art world.

Nowhere in the Wikipedia definition do the words goth, creepy, alien, retro or macabre appear, yet you can ascribe most of these adjectives to the work in this genre.

Yes, I'd pay a lot of money for an original Francis Bacon or Lucien Freud painting (similarly described as macabre, goth, creepy...even disturbing) but probably not for an original Mark Ryden. And that's not because Mr. Bacon is dead and Mr. Ryden is alive and kicking, but because, to me, Francis Bacon is an artist and Mark Ryden is an illustrator. Albeit an excellent illustrator. The difference between their work however is not merely because of the style or medium in which they work, but it's because of their originality, conceptuality and the emotion evoked by their works. Bacon's work is open to interpretation, multiple manifestations of theory and conjecture, whereas what you see is what you get with Ryden's work. One can look at Bacon's paintings and see something different every time, not so much with Ryden's.



Please understand me, I believe the aforementioned lowbrow artists are talented. I think their works are amusing at the very least and valid expressions of culture and society at the very most. I'd happily buy Shag's cocktail party invites to mail out or wear a Nara T-shirt. I hope these artists make money. I believe they work hard and have great talent. But is it art or a fad?

Over 15 years ago, I hired Gary Baseman to do some illustrations for a piece for Dayrunner (the organizational agenda company) and he did an excellent job. I picked him after looking through what was then the bible for art directors to find illustrators (the blackbook). But would I have considered going to a show of his works? Probably not.

I do believe that those people who plopped down 2500$ for a Shag lithograph 5 years ago, couldn't sell it on ebay for even half that today.

To whom exactly does low-brow art appeal? It's not like you can equate lowbrow with low cost anymore. Many of these artists sell pieces of their work for thousands of dollars. But will the value of these pieces increase?

According to market indeces and art world trends, the answer is no. I am not privy to Juxtapoz Magazines' circulation numbers or Shag's personal income, but I bet it's not climbing steadily.

So, before you 'invest' in a piece of lowbrow art, I have two words for you: Patrick Nagel.

Please donate

C'mon people, it's only a dollar.