CURATOR'S NOTE for LEGENDS OF STYLE: SURREAL CITY
THE RETURN OF THE ART REBELS: SURREAL DREAMERS AND URBAN VISIONARIES
Underground Pop Art at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century

Licsi Aniko Szatmari

"In November 1959, Life Magazine published a feature story about a group of artists they called "The Beatnicks." This group which included such notable names such as Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, Gregory Corso and Jack Kerouac, were mostly unknown at the time. They moved in circles that were underground and beneath the radar of mainstream American consciousness. The article's writer referred to these artists as "…undisciplined and slovenly amateurs, who have deluded themselves into believing that their lugubrious absurdities are art." Similar things were also said about movements that followed. In 1962, the writer and critic Max Kozloff, writing in Art International, described the then new "Pop" artists, such as Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, as working in "the pin-headed and contemptible style gum-chewers, bobby soxers, and, worse, delinquents." Today, both the Beats and Pop artists are celebrated figures in the history of American artistic practice."
From the 'Prologue' of Beautiful Losers: Contemporary Art and Street Culture by Aaron Rose and Christian Strike

Artistic Revolution: Breaking the Boundaries of Cultural Conservatism

Delinquents? Undisciplined amateurs? Subversive dilettantes? Ironically, these terms might also be directed by the conservative art establishment against the pioneers of two new underground pop art movements: urban art and pop surrealism. As we have seen again and again before in art history, many of the most groundbreaking cultural movements were born out of an underground network of creative individuals who dared to question elitist highbrow art values and outdated norms. Indeed, we are at a crucial moment in American art history. Paralleling the emergence of the New York Pop Art movement of the 1960s, the two branches of the new underground pop art are laying out the parameters of one of the most important developments of post-modern American art history. To understand the complex building blocks of these movements, let us go back to the art historical roots of these new movements.

Pop Art, most commonly associated with the names Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, was a subversive cultural movement linked with mass produced art, experimental video production, and underground rock culture (e.g. Nico and the Velvet Underground, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, The Doors). Pop Art was an ingenious critique of capitalist consumerism and mass culture of post-war America; by choosing familiar cultural icons as their subject of art, they were deliberately trying to blur the boundaries between "high" fine art and "common" pop art. Pop Artists invented a new way of approaching visual arts by turning the focus on common cultural references in advertising, mass consumer society, and popular culture. The now iconic images of Warhol's Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, Campbell soup or Coke bottle weren't always accepted into the art establishment's hall of fame. Originally dismissed as 'supermarket art', pop art became one of the most vital and influential art movements in the US and beyond.

The art historical roots of urban art and pop surrealism go beyond American Pop Art all the way back to the early twentieth-century cultural movements, Dada and Surrealism. Dada was born out of a turn-of-the century sentiment amongst artists in Europe and the US, who were protesting the brutalities of World War I ravaging Europe. It was a cultural movement fueled by an anti-establishment spirit and a deconstructive approach to art and philosophy. Dadaists rejected the rigid rationalism and formalism of contemporary art trends, and advocated a radical reassessment of the arts. Just like we feel that much of today's seemingly incomprehensible conceptual art lacks humor and dynamics, Dadaists felt that art in the beginning of the twentieth century has become stiff and lifeless. The power of Dada was in its raw energy, sarcasm, and rejection of old values. Dadaists were full of dark irony, playfulness, and rebellious spirit. Many of its founders, such as Andre Breton, Tristan Tzara, Marcel Duchamp, and Man Ray, were intentionally obscure, shocking, or absurd; they meant to subvert and provoke change with their manifestos and their minimalist aesthetics. Dada was probably the most liberating moment in modern art history. By breaking away from worn-out norms, it essentially provided a new ground for subsequent experimentive art trends. One of these developments was Surrealism, a revolutionary art movement that was more interested in the world of dreams and visions than the rationalistic formalist art the Dadaists were rejecting. Surrealists, such as Salvador Dali, Frida Kahlo, Max Ernst, Rene Magritte or Joan Miro took great pleasure in excavating the deepest recesses of the subconscious, unearthing powerful visual analogies for elemental features of the human psyche such as fear, desire, anxiety, love, sex, humor, or play. According to Wikipedia, "Surrealism is based on the belief in the superior reality of certain forms of previously neglected associations, in the omnipotence of dream, in the disinterested play of thought" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrealism). Though in today's world the existence of Freud's idea of the subconscious realm is taken for granted, in fact Surrealists helped the legitimization of Freud's psychological theories by visualizing the surreal world of the subconscious.

In choosing the SURREAL CITY theme for this year's Legends of Style show, we were trying to highlight and honor the influence of these movements on today's underground pop art we love so much. Further, we wanted to link together these two distinct, yet overlapping underground pop movements. Thus, the SURREAL CITY was born to create a platform for artistic reflections on the normally unseen and imaginary layers or urban existence. The SURREAL CITY show is a playground for urban and pop surrealist visionaries to express their reflections, dreams, and experiences of city life in their work, be they disorienting, shocking, inspiring, grotesque, sad or funny.

Voice of the Street, Vision of the Weird: Urban Art and Pop Surrealism at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

Urban Art inherited its art historical predecessors, an outlaw spirit and subversive approach to outdated aesthetics prevalent in contemporary art. Just as Pop Art was in part a rebellion against Abstract Expressionism, Urban Art is a revolt against much of the conceptual postmodern art confined to the ivory towers of highbrow art galleries. The term 'urban' loosely refers to a culture inspired by inner city issues and aesthetics. When thinking about 'urban', what first comes to mind is hip-hop culture and one of its pillars, graffiti, but one can also include here subcultures sprung off of skateboarding and punk rock music. Unlike most abstract and conceptual contemporary art, Urban Art often raises social and political concerns, bringing its critical, anti-establishment spirit into the forefront. Though it is often equated with street art, Urban Art is a wider category including art that is not necessarily showcased on the street; certain trends in illustration, graphic and product design reflect the 'street art' roots of urban art. Most of the images one finds on hip-hop or punk album covers, skateboards, vinyl toys, sneakers or urban streetwear can claim some familiar roots in street art. Street art is a modern form of urban folk art in that it is the creative expression of people growing up in and around concrete jungles and industrial landscapes. Though it is all too often associated with vandalism, street art such as graffiti and stencil art has also served as a powerful artistic medium for underprivileged and marginalized youth, who have been kept out of the elite art education system for decades. Street art is the assertion and celebration of creative freedom available to everyone; hence it is a truly democratic art from. Fueled by a desire to make a provocative mark, in the hands of these urban visionaries cities become the raw canvases for an explosion of scattered images and loud colors, grey industrial landscapes turn into playgrounds for some of the most innovative designs. Some of the most prolific representative of urban art are Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Herring, Lady Pink, Barry McGee, Justin Bua, David Choe, and Doze Green. In previous Legends of Style shows, we had the opportunity to showcase some of the giants of today's urban art: SEEN, Shepard Fairey, Dalek, and Buffmonster.

Pop Surrealism, also known as "lowbrow", is a blossoming tree with intertwining roots in Surrealism, Pop Art, 1960s American hot rod and retro culture, rebellious punk and alternative music, underground comics and cartoons. Pop Surrealists are known for their mischievous counter cultural attitude and irreverence toward the "high brow" art establishment. They have a pronounced affinity for the grotesque, ironic, playful, and the sexually charged world of imagination. While the centers of Urban Art in the US are heavily concentrated in the metropolises of the East Coast, with New York City as its capitol, most of the Pop Surrealists are based along West Coast cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle. Major players such as Blaine Fontana, Liz McGrath, Tim Biskup, Georganne Deen, and the Clayton Brothers represent the wide the range of this new movement's visual vocabulary.

Many Urban Artists and Pop Surrealists began their artistic explorations in fields normally not considered fine art, such as graffiti, graphic and product design, and illustration. The roots and inspirations of their artwork are diverse. and include advertising, graphic design, animated cartoons, anime, comic books, erotica, folk art, graffiti and street art, hip hop culture, Japanese art and Chinese art, kitsch, manga, pop culture, psychedelic art, punk rock culture, retro illustration, religious art, pulp magazine art, science fiction, sneaker culture, skate and surf culture, surrealism, tattoo art, tiki culture, toys (collectible vinyl figurines), and zine art. This complex list of influences reflects a generation growing up on overlapping cultures of underground and mainstream media. Similarly to Pop Artists of the 60s and 70s, urban artists of the turn of the twentieth century are using common cultural icons as the focus of their art and creating a continuum between the overlapping worlds of media, advertisement and fine art. The commonality of influences underlying these new art forms makes the art relevant and accessible, unlike many of the today's post-postmodern, mindbender art that is anything but comprehensible. As the curators of one of the most significant art shows in this genre wrote, "[we] have established a system of art academies that produce trained professionals whose artwork has increasingly become too mannered, too removed from connection with everyday and too encoded with self-referential knowledge. These works are failing to compete with the compelling raw energy, imagination and speed of material culture" (From Introduction of Beautiful Losers: Contemporary Art and Street Culture, Iconoclast Production, 2004).

Reminiscent of the doubts and suspicion of the prevailing highbrow art world toward the blossoming Pop Art movement of the 1960s, pop surrealist and urban artists also have been overlooked and encountered neglect by mainstream art forums. This, however, did not prevent these underground movements from maintaining their vitality and raw drive; in fact in recent years, it sparked the mushrooming of alternative avenues and forums such as independent art galleries (The Showroom, Gallery 1988, Thinkspace; project:, Lineage, Jonathan Levine Gallery) and art magazines (Beautiful Decay, Juxtapoz, Vapors, Swindle), online community sites (Wooster Collective), and unique multimedia events such as Legends of Style.


Rebuffing the World of Exclusive Art: Sotheby's and Street Art

Taking the often elitist and overly pretentious contemporary art scene by total surprise, urban artists are steadily making their way into the top niches of the international art market. Britain's street mischief-maker, Banksy, is banking in on his stencil art by sweeping out some of the most prestigious art auction venues like Sotheby's. Many of Banksy's controversial art includes works that comment on social and political issues, such as his portrayal of Queen Victoria sitting on top of a woman's face in reference to the Queen's law passed against lesbianism in England, and a stencil image of a hooded, orange-clad Guantanamo Bay detainee. Hollywood is quick to catch up with the new trends: Angelina Jolie reportedly spent more than $390,000 at a recent Banksy exhibit in Los Angeles, while the kinky Queen Victoria was sold to Christina Aguilera for £25,000 ($49,316).

Around the world, urban art is steadily making its way into high-end art markets and museums normally reserved for the elite art establishment. In London's Sotheby's, Banksy's "Mona Lisa," spray-painted with stencil on canvas, set the auction's top sale at £57,600 ($109,600). The auction house sold three Banksy works and reached the highest ever price for a Banksy work at auction of over £102,000 ($200,475) for his "Bombing Middle England". Two of his other graffiti works, "Balloon Girl" and "Bomb Hugger", sold for £37,200 ($73,260) and £31,200 ($61,321) respectively. In New York, MoMA recently acquired three works by Brooklyn-based printmaker Swoon, who began her carrier as a stencil artist working the streets of New York City, while in Paris, a recent urban art show at the Grand Palais called "Street at the Grand Palais" featured a graffiti panel.

LEGENDS OF STYLE: Surreal City Weaves the Visual Landscapes of Underground Pop Art

Though it is impossible to force any of our artists into a hardbound "ism" box, their stylistic tendencies would suggest closer proximity to one or the other underground pop art forms. As Legends of Style commences its national tour for 2007 it will feature artistic interpretations of the theme Surreal City from the urban visionaries such as Tristan Eaton, Marka27, Problak, The Love Movement, SWAT, Merkthose, Raodee, Bamboo2, Alone, ninerevolutions, Josh Falk, Enamel Kingdom, Illside Ink, Jason Thielke, p14ewright, Brian Life, Damion Silver, Fish McGill, Kenji Nakayama, hRo, Kyle Bryant, Lizmatic, Mark Cabrera, and React. The Pop Surrealists will be represented by Yoskay Yamamoto, Reuben Rude, Jarrod Eastman, Sho Murase, Doug Forbes, Zach Johnsen, Shannon Brady, Belfast, Lichiban, Dave Tree, MEtim, Patrick Pollard, Marion B, and StephLove.

These underground pop artists manage to create a visual language that can be interactive, playful, sexy, humorous, or critical at the same time. They are creating a New Pop iconography, which I believe will match ones that sprung out of Warhol's Factory. Much like the Factory, Legends of Style is designed to integrate various media outlets to provide a platform for these new underground pop movements. Like the boundary breaking art that it represents, Legends of Style breaks with the tradition of "wine and cheese" art gallery openings by placing the art into the context of a multimedia party event, that includes live painting, fashion, (e.g. independent t-shirt design exhibition, collector's items sportswear) and music (DJ's spinning live). The fact that a typical Legends of Style one night event attracts 1000+ people is very telling about the pressing need for a new artistic revolution. Legends of Style's main mission is to provide a venue for world-renown as well as emerging artists of these underground pop art movements to express their creativity freely and to further this revolution.