Lowbrow, or lowbrow art[1], 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 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.[2] - Wikipedia.
Pop Surrealism or Lowbrow Art is a genre i have very much fallen in love with primarily because it celebrates the alternative, its art is truthful, it is bold, daring, confronting yet also delicate, cute and beautiful. Pop Surrealism usually has a style that i would describe as Story Book Illustration with an edgy twist. It comes in many mediums such as paintings, digital art, toys, drawings and airbrushing. The style usually incorporates an illustration of beautiful yet twisted characters, it is not uncommon to see the odd tattoo added to the characters and a few pop culture references. Some styles that exist within this genre include character illustrations, book illustrations, comic book style art, tattoo art, manga and modern pin ups.
Why I love Pop Surrealism
I have always loved character illustration and i guess you could say i have an overall admiration of the human body. When watching Disney films or reading picture books as a kid i would always pay close attention to the characters, their features, their outlines and try to understand how they were drawn and put together to produce the fascinating end result of a beautiful princess, a cute fuzzy little critter, or a strong hero! I still have a love for these classically, beautiful characters but i have also grown into a somewhat alternative person with a love for the "underground" and things that are not so widely socially accepted like tattoos and piercings (although i have very little myself). I embrace things, people and worlds that are different and i am a firm believer and admirer of self expression. I find Pop Surrealism expresses all these things i love, the artists aren't afraid to be themselves and show their art to the world, an art that combines the dark, freaky and alternative with a soft, dreamlike whimsical quality that makes you admire and fall in love.
I wish I could describe this art on a more technical level but there really isn't a lot of in depth information of this genre on the web or in libraries, i think this is due to the fact that Pop Surrealism has not yet been granted the same status as "Fine Art" as stated in Wikipedia -
Museums, art critics, mainstream galleries, etc., have been 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. Some art critics doubt that lowbrow is a "legitimate" art movement, and there is thus very little scholarly critical writing about it. The standard argument of critics is that critical writing arises naturally from within an art movement first, and then a wider circle of critics draws upon this writing to inform their own criticism. This apparent absence of internal critical writing may be because many lowbrow artists began their careers in fields not normally considered fine art, such as illustration, tattooing and comic books. Many lowbrow artists are self-taught, which further alienates them from the world of museum curators and art schools.[citation needed]
Many in the art world have deeper difficulties with lowbrow's figurative focus, its cultivation of narrative, and its strong valuing of technical skill.[citation needed] All these aspects of art were deeply disparaged in the art schools and by curators and critics throughout the 1980s and 90s.[citation needed]
