INSPIRATION: POP SURREALISM

Pop Surrealism: the combination of two of my favourite movements.

Pop Surrealism in more officially known as Lowbrow, an underground visual

art movement that arose in Los Angeles, California in the late 1970s. Quoted from Wiki "Lowbrow is a widespread populist art movement with origins in the underground comix world, punk music, hot-rod street culture, and other subcultures. It is also often known by the name pop surrealism. Lowbrow art often has a sense of humor - sometimes the humor is gleeful, sometimes impish, and sometimes it's a sarcastic comment. Most lowbrow artworks are paintings, but there are also toys, digital art, and sculpture." Lowbrow has been deemed inappropriate by some art critics as they felt that it was too cartoon-based and their themes were often controversial thus doubting if lowbrow is a "legitimate" art movement. This caused museums and mainstream galleries to be uncertain as to the status of lowbrow in relation to the fine art world, and to date it has been largely excluded - although this has not stopped some collectors from buying the works.

A short introduction to some of the artists i have had brief encounters with:

Mark Ryden (personal favourite)

Mark Ryden was one of the pop surrealists who changed the perspective of art critics that defined lowbrow paintings as non-technical, or no reference to fine arts. In Marks Ryden's case, his meticulous skills bridged the gap between him and the surrealists who are famous for their realistic/intricate painting skills. Hmm, maybe I should do a separate write-up on him?

Brian Despain (another favourite)

THE EXCHANGE

Oil on wood

20" x 16"

I've always been fascinated by hummingbirds. Not only with the way they can zip around, stop on a dime and hover there perfectly motionless, (motionless besides their frantically beating wings of course.) but also with their supreme cockiness, their aggressive attitude towards, well, everything, and the fact that they're about as crazy as a shit-house rat. They kind of remind me of this guy I used to work with. You could be talking about the most offensive, controversial subject known to man and he'd be perfectly fine, but then switch to some seemingly innocuous subject, like Twinkies or how I hate the water pressure in my shower and he'll go off on you like you've suggested something carnal involving his mother and a bushel of pears.

So I guess this is my tribute to one individual's innocent attempt at reaching out to another, to exchange thoughts, ideas, or even just connect on a deeper level, only to have the whole thing blow up in some spectacular fashion. That and crazy people birds.

Man, I love this dude the way he thinks.

Brian Despain, another artist with great techniques, bases his works on more fantasy-like themes. In which, we can see tin mans, unidentified creatures that looks like pears or fishes. In his defense, he explained that he wanted to be different from classical artists who painted much still-life of fruits by animating them into creatures. Also, infusion of white speech bubbles shows influence from pop art. Maybe I should do an individual write up on him too.

Scott Musgrove

This artist's main subject matter is animals. Not just normal animals, but weird, cheeky animals with disproportionate body parts and the weirdest facial features one has ever seen on an animal painting.

To me, lowbrow, or Pop Surrealism, as I would prefer it to be called, might not be fine art, but it definitely is a form of art. Art is a medium through which one can express their emotions, their thoughts, and not just for it to be critiqued on. Perhaps I may not be a Robert Williams or Joe Coleman fan, but I do appreciate some of the works done by the more recent pop surrealist artists as I have mentioned above, where one can clearly see the influences from surrealism and pop art.

All in all, I feel inspired by this art "movement" as its is different from Surrealism, where its main aim is to bring about confusion to the viewers or exploring their subconsciousness, but it is more to bring across their message through their very own eccentric styles. Also, they are not really given a specific theme or restrictions. One can truly explore their individuality and uniqueness through this paintings style. I believe I'd really enjoy painting in this style as I'm quite random, and I like to incorporate subject matters that are not meant to be, together.