Pop surrealism

The name for the lowbrow is artist Robert Williams, known for his popular underground comics, hot rod illustrations, and psychedelic rock posters. He was the first to compare the unpretentious and undemanding art with the high skill of that time. His book The Lowbrow Art of Robert Williams was published in 1974. Subsequently, the title of the book was taken as the name of a young emerging art movement ^[1] .

The concept of “lowrow” appeared at the end of the 19th century in connection with the widespread practice of that time to draw a conclusion about the mental abilities of a person, based on the features of his appearance. It was believed that the closer a person comes to the west or north, the higher his eyebrows are set, according to the hallmarks of the inhabitants of these regions, and, therefore, the higher the level of his intellectual abilities. The low position of the eyebrows was associated primarily with monkeys. Thus, “lowrow” is a category that reflects that which goes beyond the framework of “aesthetically refined” and “highly intelligent” ^[2] .

The turning point in the development of pop surrealism was the opening of the gallery * [5] - La Luz de Jesus Gallery (Russian) in Hollywood in 1986. The owner of the gallery, Billy Shire, is one of the first entrepreneurs who fully appreciated the main idea that the artists who were at the origins of the formation of this trend wanted to convey: Robert Williams, Kuup, Tod Shor and others. His gallery was also remains a fundamental factor in the emergence of pop surrealism ^[3] .

Currently, there are several subcategories of pop surrealism: NoBrow, New Brow, Neo Pop and Comic Abstraction, which open up opportunities for using new ways of expressing oneself and help spread the work to a wider audience.

Many critics , as well as employees of museums and art galleries, have doubts as to whether pop surrealism can be considered a traditional form of fine art, as its representatives, who draw their inspiration from cartoons , comics and street graffiti , are for the most part not professional artists.

In this regard, the issue of classifying pop-surrealism as a traditional visual art is not subject to serious discussion among critics. Currently, additional difficulties in the study of this direction arise due to the fact that there is no consensus on authorship and the path of development of pop surrealism. Moreover, the serious problem of perceiving pop-surrealism as an independent visual category lies in the fact that some artists, who are attributed to representatives of this genre, do not rank themselves as similar.

Peter Schjeldahl, a well-known art critic and columnist for The Village Voice , said that the success of pop surrealism is due to the rebellion of society against modern institutions that diminish the importance of free spiritual development and personal truth, believing that they can govern the public and its opinion. ^[four]

In 1994, Robert Williams, together with a group of like-minded people, founded the magazine * [6] - Juxtapoz (Russian) , dedicated to alternative visual art. The magazine covers various aspects of contemporary visual art of modern subcultures: graffiti, tattoos , posters, illustrations , retro culture, etc. The magazine has become an open platform for artists to realize themselves.

Despite the fact that pop surrealism is an underground movement, over the past decade, the presence of works by artists of this direction has increased significantly in constant exhibitions of famous art museums, including the Museum of Modern Art , the Whitney Museum of American Art, Foundation Cartier, etc.

In the film "New Brow: Contemporary Underground Art" the theme of pop surrealism is highlighted as the new driving force of American art. The film provides interviews with famous and just beginning artists, as well as collectors who acquaint the viewer with the emerging and provocative art, which, in their opinion, has not yet had time to annoy the public and pleasantly surprises.

The feature-length documentary The Treasures of Long Gone John tells the story of John Mermis, an American eccentric music and art collector who puts pop-surrealism at the forefront of creating an understanding of contemporary art trends. The film expands knowledge of lowrow art as an independent and distinctive phenomenon, and talks about the history of this art movement, focusing on the "bible" of pop surrealism - Juxtapoz magazine and prominent representatives of this trend.

• Tara Macpherson
• Massurrealism
• Stakism

• Russell Lynes "Highbrow, Lowbrow, Middlebrow" // The Wilson Quarterly. - 1976. - S. 146-158 .
• John Strausbaugh. Street Art That's Finding a New Address // The New York Times. - 2010.