Beautiful LosersThe greatest cultural accomplishments in history have never been the result of the brainstorms of marketing men, corporate focus groups or any homogenized methods; they have always happened organically. More often than not, these manifestations have been the result of a few like-minded people coming together to create something new and original for no other purpose than a common love of doing it. In the 1990s, a loose-knit group of American artists and creators, many just out of their teens, began their careers in just such a way. Influenced by the popular underground youth subcultures of the day, such as skateboarding, graffiti, street fashion and independent music, artists like Shepard Fairey, Mark Gonzales, Spike Jonze, Margaret Kilgallen, Mike Mills, Barry McGee, Phil Frost, Chris Johanson, Harmony Korine and Ed Templeton began to create art that reflected the lifestyles they led. Many had no formal training and almost no conception of the inner workings of the art world. They learned their crafts through practice, trial and error, and good old-fashioned innovation. Not since the Beat Generation have we seen a group of creative individuals with such a unified aesthetic sense and varied cultural facets. The world of art has been greatly affected by their accomplishments as have the worlds of fashion, music, literature, film, and, ironically, athletics. Beautiful Losers is a retrospective celebration of this spirit, with hundreds of artworks by over two dozen artists, from precursors like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring and Larry Clark, to more recent adherents Ryan McGinness, KAWS and Geoff McFetridge. Work in all conceivable mediums is included, plus reproductions of reams of ephemera. The accompanying essays are contributed by a half-dozen writers who have championed these beautiful losers from the start. This paperback reprint includes more pages, more images, an exhibition checklist, installation shots from a variety of exhibitions and an interview with Beautiful Losers advocate Agnes B. |
Contents
Thom Collins and René de Guzman | 23 |
FUTURA | 71 |
Aaron Rose | 141 |
Copyright | |
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11 inches 20 inches Aaron Rose acrylic on wood aesthetic album covers Alleged Gallery Andy Jenkins Angeles art world artwork Barry McGee Baudelaire Beastie Boys Beautiful Losers book Courtesy c-print canvas Cheryl Dunn Chris Johanson Contemporary Art create creative Deitch Projects Dogtown Ed Templeton exhibition film Friedman Futura graffiti artists graphic Harmony Korine hip-hop inches Courtesy Jean-Michel Basquiat KAWS Keith Haring kids label look Love Park magazine Private collection Margaret Kilgallen Mark Gonzales Mike Mills mins Courtesy Mixed media Museum OBEY OBEY OBEY Offset printed Offset printed magazine paintings Paris Phil Frost Philadelphia Photo Photocopy photographs printed magazine Private punk Pushead ramp San Francisco scene Shepard Fairey silkscreen silver gelatin print skateboarding skateboarding's skatepark Spike Jonze Stecyk Stephen Powers street skating style subculture surfing Templeton Thomas Campbell Thrasher Tobin Yelland underground Untitled urban visual wall writing York zines