Sunday, August 9, 2009

The Upset


A new breed of contemporary artists is celebrating newfound international recognition for their style and approach to creating art that is sprouting from and largely influenced by visual subcultures. These young artists, many of whom are associated with the widespread movements of Lowbrow Art and Neo-Surrealism, share similarities with the popular art movements of the 1960s and 70s as well as urban art.

The term Lowbrow may sound self-deprecating; rather it represents a distinctive artistic composition and technical approach in which art is produced. The Upset documents this movement and the artists associated with it. Feeding off an array of popular subcultures, they often draw influences from anime, comic books, graffiti and street art as well as character design.

The often figurative and narrative artworks featured here employ classical techniques with great skills to create sculpture, illustration, design and painting with the use of spray cans, sharpies and elaborate colour palettes on canvas. With the evolution of new media, artists are also blending these elements with various disciplines in contemporary visual art.

Many of the artists in The Upset enjoy international fame and are represented in prestigious galleries and museums worldwide. The book also introduces a selection of promising talent who are breaking new ground, making it the perfect source book for those interested in fine art and discovering young artists.

Featured artists: Maike Abetz / Oliver Drescher, Alexone, Grant Barnhart, Gary Baseman, Tilo Baumgartel, Tim Biskup, Mark Bradford, Daniele Buetti, Cailan Burns, Ray Caesar, Miguel Calderon, John Casey, Paul Chatem, The Clayton Brothers, Joe Coleman, John Currin, Brendan Danielsson, Stephan Doitschinoff, Blaise Drummond, Dzine, Ala Ebtekar, Martin Eder, David Ellis, Ron English, Faile, Christian Farner, Rosemarie Fiore, FriendsWithYou, Camille Rose Garcia, Os Gemeos, Michael Genovese, Charles Glaubitz, Benjamin Güdel, Robert Hardgrave, Maya Hayuk, Ryan Heshka, Femke Hiemstra, Cody Hudson, Gisela Insuaste, Rich Jacobs, John John Jesse, Colin Johnson, Mel Kadel, David Kassan, Aya Kato, David Kinsey, Henning Kles, Kozyndan, Susanne Kuehn, Mia Mäkila, Mateo, Elizabeth McGrath, Casey McKee, Jason McLean, Philip Metten, Moki, Brendan Monroe, Heiko Müller, Muntean/Rosenblum, Yoshimoto Nara, Aaron Nather, Anne Faith Nicholls, Jose Parla, Nigel Peake, Raymond Pettibon, Danielle de Picciotto, Anthony Pontius, Pooch, Johan Potma, Jeremy Pruitt, Leopold Rabus, Scott Radke, Rex Ray, Scott Rench, Daniel Richter, Rostarr, Christoph Ruckhaberle, Mark Ryden, Christoph Schmidberger, David Schnell, Sebastian Schrader, Michael Sieben, Michael Slack, Jeff Soto, Fred Stonehouse, David Stoupakis, Swoon, Johannes Tiepelmann, Chris Uphues, Miss Van, Vania Ivan Zouravliov, Matthias Weischer, Martin Wittfooth and Chet Zar.

http://www.juxtapoz.com/

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Avant-garde


Avant-garde (French pronunciation: [avɑ̃ɡaʁd]) means "advance guard" or "vanguard".[1] The adjective form is used in English, to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics.

Avant-garde represents a pushing of the boundaries of what is accepted as the norm or the status quo, primarily in the cultural realm. The notion of the existence of the avant-garde is considered by some to be a hallmark of modernism, as distinct from postmodernism.

The term was originally used to describe the foremost part of an army advancing into battle (also called the vanguard) and now applied to any group, particularly of artists, that considers itself innovative and ahead of the majority.[3]
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Post Modernism
=> as critique of race, class, gender, originality.
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Postmodernism was originally a reaction to modernism. Largely influenced by the Western European "disillusionment" induced by World War II, postmodernism refers to a cultural, intellectual, or artistic state lacking a clear central hierarchy or organizing principle and embodying extreme complexity, contradiction, ambiguity, diversity, interconnectedness or interreferentiality,[4] in a way that is often indistinguishable from a parody of itself.
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The status of the avant-garde is particularly controversial: many institutions argue that being visionary, forward-looking, cutting-edge, and progressive are crucial to the mission of art in the present, and therefore postmodern art contradicts the value of "art of our times". Postmodernism rejects the notion of advancement or progress in art per se, and thus aims to overturn the "myth of the avant-garde". Rosalind Krauss was one of the important enunciators of the view that avant-gardism was over, and that the new artistic era is post-liberal and post-progress.[21] One characteristic of postmodern art is its conflation of high and low culture through the use of industrial materials and pop culture imagery.
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One compact definition is that postmodernism rejects modernism's grand narratives of artistic direction, eradicating the boundaries between high and low forms of art, and disrupting genre's conventions with collision, collage, and fragmentation. Postmodern art holds that all stances are unstable and insincere, and therefore irony, parody, and humor are the only positions that cannot be overturned by critique or revision. "Pluralism and diversity" are other defining features.[28]
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If you want to know more about the how and why of Po-Mo I strongly suggest you read Sandro Bocola's great final chapter of 'The Art of Modernism' @
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Radiohead - Idioteque
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Who's in a bunker? Who's in a bunker? Women and children first. And the children first. And the children... I'll laugh until my head comes off. I'll swallow till I burst. Until I burst. Until I...
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Who's in a bunker? Who's in a bunker? I have seen too much. You haven't seen enough. You haven't seen it. I'll laugh until my head comes off. Women and children first. And children first. And children...
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Here I'm allowed Everything all of the time. Here I'm allowed Everything all of the time. Ice age coming. Ice age coming. Let me hear both sides. Let me hear both sides. Let me hear both... Ice age coming. Ice age coming. Throw them in the fire. Throw them in the fire. Throw them in the...
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We're not scare mongering. This is really happening Happening. We're not scare mongering. This is really happening. Happening...
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Mobiles quirking. Mobiles chirping. Take the money and run. Take the money and run. Take the money.
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Here I'm allowed (background: and first and the children x6) Everything all of the time. Here I'm allowed Everything all of the time. Here I'm allowed Everything all of the time. Here I'm allowed Everything all of the time. Deaf and lost are the children (repeated).
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Patricia Piccinini
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Shuan Gladwell
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Utopian Slumps
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Retrospect Galleries
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Nine lives Gallery