October 26, 2019 – Metallicman

Introduction to the art of Todd Schorr.

Today’s artist is the one the only, the amazing painter that turns pop-culture into surreal art, Todd Schorr! Everything he gets his brushes on are simply amazing. All his paintings have so much detail that every time I look back at the paintings I always notice something new to trigger my amazement.

Todd Schorr 17 — Schorr began doing professional illustration while still in college, and soon after graduating in 1976 he moved to New York City where he provided work for a wide variety of commercial projects including album covers for AC/DC, movie posters for George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola, and covers for Time magazine that now reside in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.

Artist Todd Schorr has earned broad recognition as a master painter. The style and influences of his complex narrative painting have been attributed from a multitude of sources from Northern Renaissance to 18th and 19th century Romantic painters.

Todd Schorr is an American artist and one of the most prominent members of the "Lowbrow" art movement or pop surrealism. Combining a cartoon influenced visual vocabulary with a highly polished technical ability, based on the exacting painting methods of the Old Masters, Schorr weaves intricate narratives that are often biting yet humorous.

-Wikipedia

Todd Schorr 16 — Every viewer brings their own personal perceptions to a depiction of say, Fred Flintstone, but the context he’s been placed in and how he’s been altered physically, triggers new associations in the viewer that didn’t exist before. Conversely, if a depiction of a generic cave man was used in the composition, it might not generate the same intimate emotional response.

Todd Schorr is a living American artist and one of the heavy weights of the “Lowbrow” (pop surrealism) art movement. Keep that phrase “pop surrealism” in mind when you’re looking at his art. Similar to Alex Grey, Todd Schorr‘s pieces are vivid, colorful, and packed with impressively complex and detailed images. Thematically, his art deals with some prominent pop culture themes ranging from fairy tales to television and movie references, from alien encounters to not-so-subtle commentary on modern society.

Todd Schorr 15 — Todd Schorr was born in New York City in 1954 and grew up in Oakland, New Jersey. His parents enrolled him in art classes when he was five, and understandably he claims influences from movies such “King Kong” and the early animated cartoons of Walt Disney and Max Fleischer were (and apparently still are) a driving force in his creative visions.

"There is still a persistent reluctance on the part of  many of these larger institutions in acknowledging this art, but I  really feel they’re shooting themselves in the foot on this point, and  fail to realize the broader audience this art has the potential to bring  in. 

I recently witnessed a rather humorous situation at the Museum Of  Art in New York where the gallery displaying surrealist art was  jam-packed with onlookers, while the gallery containing work of recent  conceptual work was occupied solely by a young mother changing the  diaper of her baby infant. Does that not tell you something?"

-Todd Schorr quoted in Arrested Motion

Todd Schorr was born in New York City in 1954 and grew up in Oakland, New Jersey. His parents enrolled him in art classes when he was five, and understandably he claims influences from movies such “King Kong” and the early animated cartoons of Walt Disney and Max Fleischer were (and apparently still are) a driving force in his creative visions.

Todd Schorr 14 — Todd Schorr is a living American artist and one of the heavy weights of the “Lowbrow” (pop surrealism) art movement. Keep that phrase “pop surrealism” in mind when you’re looking at his art. Similar to Alex Grey, Todd Schorr‘s pieces are vivid, colorful, and packed with impressively complex and detailed images. Thematically, his art deals with some prominent pop culture themes ranging from fairy tales to television and movie references, from alien encounters to not-so-subtle commentary on modern society.

By the late 1960’s and early 1970’s Schorr was drumming in bands and found further influences in the psychedelic music posters and underground comics coming out of the west coast art scene. In 1970 he visited the Uffizi gallery in Italy and began to formulate an idea of combining cartoons with the painting techniques of the Old Masters.

 “Like any artist of worth, it took many long years of struggle and  investigative thought along with trial and error as well as constant  honing of technique to reach the point where I felt I had created a  language which, when spoken well, would command some semblance of  purpose. I work in what is best described as a surreal style but  filtered through the mind and eyes of what is, for better or worse,  uniquely American.” 

– Todd Schorr

Todd Schorr 13 — Schorr works in acrylic, creating complex narrative paintings of his favorite childhood characters — Popeye, Tony the Tiger and King Kong — with a technical bravado borrowed from the Old Masters.

In 1972 he entered the Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of The Arts) with designs towards being a painter, but he was directed instead to the illustration department.

Schorr began doing professional illustration while still in college, and soon after graduating in 1976 he moved to New York City where he provided work for a wide variety of commercial projects including album covers for AC/DC, movie posters for George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola, and covers for Time magazine that now reside in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.

Yeah, Schorr's stuff is just uh-maze-ing.  Really on a whole other  level, there also HUGE.  I think that first one I posted is 90-something  inches across.  

-Comment found on Universal Monster Army

Todd Schorr 11 — Fantastic imagery, cartoon characters, and other pop culture icons rendered with an exacting technique and colorful palette defines the signature style of Schorr’s artwork. His iconic work to date is “A Pirate’s Treasure Dream”, 2006, which depicts a plethora of zany phantoms and animals (such as Donald Duck, Coco the Clown, and a Worry-Bird), all parading around — none other than – the lusty Los Angeles Lowbrow (art movement) collector Long Gone John.

AM: One of the things that people love about your work are  your many references to pop culture. Can you tell us a little about the  significance of this aspect of your paintings?

 
Schorr: I consider myself a cultural anthropologist and use pop  culture reference points in my work because they strike an emotional  resonance with people while also forming a common pictorial language  that’s accessible to just about everyone. They get the viewer’s  attention and pull them into the little scenarios that I’ve laid out  before them on my canvases. Every viewer brings their own personal  perceptions to a depiction of say, Fred Flintstone, but the context he’s  been placed in and how he’s been altered physically, triggers new  associations in the viewer that didn’t exist before. Conversely, if a  depiction of a generic cave man was used in the composition, it might  not generate the same intimate emotional response. I try to get the  essence of the pop culture elements I’m referring to but alter the  perception of that image.

Schorr works in acrylic, creating complex narrative paintings of his favorite childhood characters — Popeye, Tony the Tiger and King Kong — with a technical bravado borrowed from the Old Masters.

Often, they pay humorous homage to his baby boomer childhood or a revered painter, as in “Parade of the Damned” (2005), based loosely on the 1562 Flemish masterpiece by Bruegel called “Mad Meg,” which depicts a harridan who drives everyone around her crazy.

Todd Schorr 0 — Schorr, 54, grew up in New Jersey, immersed in the world of cartoons, commercials and Hollywood horror films. But it was after he went to Europe as a teenager and visited the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, that a light bulb went on: “If I could learn how to paint in the techniques of the Old Masters but use as subject matter my favorite cartoons, I would have the best of all worlds,” he told himself.

In Schorr’s version, the monsters all come from the world of pop culture: Frankenstein and King Kong join a cast of fiends as they casually make their way toward the mouth of hell, where they’re warmly welcomed by Morticia of the Addams Family.

Sometimes, his works have a distinctly sociopolitical undertone, as in “The Hydra of Madison Avenue” (2001), a bacchanalia display of old Saturday morning TV commercial characters — Tony the Tiger, Smokey Bear, Mr. Clean — all sprouting from a many-headed beast as the Jolly Green Giant struts alongside a pink fairy tale castle spewing a cloud of black smoke.

“There’s an undercurrent of malice going in,” acknowledges Schorr, speaking by phone from Los Angeles. “The way I’m presenting it, it’s a serious presentation, but it has an absurdity built into it. I’ve got these ridiculous cartoon characters, but I’m trying to paint them the way an Old Master would paint them.”

The painting is at once deeply personal and sociopolitical: “It’s about advertising, of course,” he says. “You cut the head off, and it keeps coming back. I have mixed feelings about advertising. I think it’s a horrible profession, but at the same time it has given us all these fascinating characters.”

Schorr, 54, grew up in New Jersey, immersed in the world of cartoons, commercials and Hollywood horror films. But it was after he went to Europe as a teenager and visited the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, that a light bulb went on: “If I could learn how to paint in the techniques of the Old Masters but use as subject matter my favorite cartoons, I would have the best of all worlds,” he told himself.

Todd Schorr 10 — Sometimes, his works have a distinctly sociopolitical undertone, as in “The Hydra of Madison Avenue” (2001), a bacchanalia display of old Saturday morning TV commercial characters — Tony the Tiger, Smokey Bear, Mr. Clean — all sprouting from a many-headed beast as the Jolly Green Giant struts alongside a pink fairy tale castle spewing a cloud of black smoke.

From December 2001 through February 2002 the exhibit “Secret Mystic Rites: Todd Schorr Retrospective” was organized by the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, Florida. The museum used Schorr’s painting “Clash of the Holidays” on the invitation which provoked some outrage, with various South Florida civil leaders accusing Schorr of blasphemy.

Fortunately the controversy died down after meetings between local, state, and museum officials determined that the cost of the county’s heretic burning permit exceeded the city’s budget for the month.

This resulted in a later ruling by the Florida Supreme Court which reduced the sentence for blasphemy from burning at the stake to simple drawing and quartering, under the logic that the threat of fire damage to the Everglades superseded the rights of local preachers to protect their flocks from outside influence.

Todd Schorr 9 — The art world is very much tied to fashion and fads, and many young artists easily stray into these traps to gain acceptance and what they perceive as popularity. Consider yourself a very fortunate artist indeed if you manage to find just one or a couple of patrons that truly love your work and stick with you through thick and thin.

In most ways, Todd Schorr is living every artist’s dream: His beastly cartoon paintings are plastered throughout the Internet, where they are studied, discussed and analyzed for meaning on hundreds of art blogs.

AM: Many of the younger artists we talk to list you as one of  their inspirations or influences. Being a dedicated artist is not easy,  especially in this economic time. We know you also had some struggles  when you gave up a lucrative illustration career to focus on your own  personal art. Any advice for the younger generation of artists out  there?

Schorr: If a person has artistic inclinations and has something that  by compulsion needs to be expressed, they will somehow find an outlet  and hopefully be able to make a living from that talent. Unlike  commercial art, where you can target the type of client or market you’d  like to work for, the “fine art” gallery world is such an unpredictable  mess of agendas and “of the moment” fashion posturing, that it’s folly  to suggest any one path to success.

However, here are a couple of important thoughts to consider. Stay  true to your vision and what makes you unique while constantly seeking  to evolve and improve on previous efforts. Don’t follow trends. The art  world is very much tied to fashion and fads, and many young artists  easily stray into these traps to gain acceptance and what they perceive  as popularity. Consider yourself a very fortunate artist indeed if you  manage to find just one or a couple of patrons that truly love your work  and stick with you through thick and thin.

Hollywood celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and David Arquette collect his massive canvases. Tycoons, such as Mark Parker, the CEO of Nike, commission his work, while less well-to-do devotees settle for covering their bodies with tattooed replicas of his iconographic images.

Todd Schorr 8 — Indeed, he says, if those Flemish Old Masters were living today, they’d be painting cartoons too. And, who knows, he adds, but maybe art lovers of the future will revere paintings of King Kong, Tony the Tiger and Cap’n Crunch.

Today Schorr lives the life of a reclusive billionaire, quietly depicting the reality of a twisted cartoon otherworld while tossing scraps of lobster to his trained pack of hyenas which provide a secure front line between himself and the frothing mass of groupies camped at his gates.

Todd Schoor is brilliant!!! If you like his style, check out paintings  by Robert Williams. Robt. Williams pioneered the multi-layered, low-brow  painting style. 

 -Comment found on Universal Monster Army

Todd Schorr 7 — Although the label “lowbrow” may be shunned by other artists of his generation, Schorr actually validates the colloquial term and summarizes the genre’s basic traits. In other words, he takes what are often considered to be low cultural references and elevates them into significant artifacts that pulsate with intellectual viability.

There may not be a more dedicated and industrious artist than Todd Schorr. His work ethic is legendary, his output exemplified by dogged attention to detail and skill in technique.

Such a notable career, when taken in sum, encapsulates a unique, personal vision of a conjured world in which he establishes surreal appeal by creating phantasmagorical images that mesmerize the viewer in their meticulously painted execution.

Todd Schorr 6 — Hollywood celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and David Arquette collect his massive canvases. Tycoons, such as Mark Parker, the CEO of Nike, commission his work, while less well-to-do devotees settle for covering their bodies with tattooed replicas of his iconographic images.

Although the label “lowbrow” may be shunned by other artists of his generation, Schorr actually validates the colloquial term and summarizes the genre’s basic traits. In other words, he takes what are often considered to be low cultural references and elevates them into significant artifacts that pulsate with intellectual viability.

Yeah, Robert Williams is pretty much THE MAN when it comes to lowbrow  art, he kind of coined the term (as it applies to this movement of art)  back in the early '80s,  not to mention his stuff is weird with a  capital W.  I'd post some of his work but it rarely prominently features  movie monsters.   

  -Comment found on Universal Monster Army

Todd Schorr 5 — “Like any artist of worth, it took many long years of struggle and investigative thought along with trial and error as well as constant honing of technique to reach the point where I felt I had created a language which, when spoken well, would command some semblance of purpose. I work in what is best described as a surreal style but filtered through the mind and eyes of what is, for better or worse, uniquely American.”

Schorr is a seminal figure in what’s known as the lowbrow school of art, an underground movement centered in Los Angeles that draws on an iconography of cartoon characters and baby boomer images from TV and pop culture. Other artists in the movement, which is also known as pop surrealism, include Camille Rose Garcia, Gary Baseman and Mark Ryden.

Since 1994, they have been steadfastly promoted in the pages of Juxtapoz Arts & Culture Magazine, a pop surrealist San Francisco-based publication.

Todd Schorr’s artistic journey is one that hardly conforms to the time-honored stereotype of Bohemian artist. It is rather a post-war tale bracketed by an America infatuated with the limitless potential of consumerism.

Todd Schorr 4 — Todd Schorr is a living American artist and one of the heavy weights of the “Lowbrow” (pop surrealism) art movement. Keep that phrase “pop surrealism” in mind when you’re looking at his art. Similar to Alex Grey, Todd Schorr‘s pieces are vivid, colorful, and packed with impressively complex and detailed images.

His formative years were spent in a world surrounded by the atomic and space ages, by Saturday morning cartoons and racks of comic books at the local drug store, a land populated by Revell models, Mad Magazine, Testors glue, Mickey Mouse and Rat Fink.

My kind of guy.

Further fueling his developing image bank were the seemingly endless icons from television’s early years: Robbie the Robot, Mighty Joe Young and reel upon reel of animated toons from the likes of Tex Avery, George Pal and Max Fleischer.

Todd Schorr 3 — Todd Schorr is an American artist and one of the most prominent members of the “Lowbrow” art movement or pop surrealism. Combining a cartoon influenced visual vocabulary with a highly polished technical ability, based on the exacting painting methods of the Old Masters, Schorr weaves intricate narratives that are often biting yet humorous.

The compulsion to replicate these characters led to a formal art education and exposure to a new set of influences drawn from the world of advertising and commercial art.

 Todd Schorr (born January 9, 1954) is an American artist and one of the most prominent of the group that has been dubbed "Lowbrow (art movement)" or pop surrealism. An early work is the cover of Patrick Adams Presents Phreek. 

Fantastic imagery, cartoon characters, and other pop culture  icons rendered with an exacting technique and colorful palette defines  the signature style of Schorr’s artwork. His iconic work to date is "A Pirate's Treasure Dream", 2006, which depicts a plethora of zany phantoms and animals (such as Donald Duck, Coco the Clown, and a Worry-Bird), all parading around -- none other than – the lusty Los Angeles Lowbrow (art movement) collector Long Gone John. Todd Schorr is one of the most "successful"/most expensive living artists in the Lowbrow (art movement) scene. 

Schorr studied Illustration and graduated from the Philadelphia College of Art. His art and illustrations have been included in Time, New York Times, and Juxtapoz Magazine, to name a few. He is married to fellow Lowbrow artist, Kathy Staico Schorr.  Both live and work in Beverly Hills, California. 

-Art and popular culture

Todd Schorr 1 — Artist Todd Schorr has earned broad recognition as a master painter. The style and influences of his complex narrative painting have been attributed from a multitude of sources from Northern Renaissance to 18th and 19th century Romantic painters.

“The artwork I respond to is art that’s entertaining but also (makes) you feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand up,” he says. “It should be kind of thrilling. A total visceral response.”

Indeed, he says, if those Flemish Old Masters were living today, they’d be painting cartoons too. And, who knows, he adds, but maybe art lovers of the future will revere paintings of King Kong, Tony the Tiger and Cap’n Crunch.

“This work is going to be tremendously important 100 years from now,” Schorr asserts. “It’s so much an art of our time and place.

Movies that Inspired Me

Here are some movies that I consider noteworthy and worth a view. Enjoy.

Stories that Inspired Me

Here are reprints in full text of stories that inspired me, but that are nearly impossible to find in China. I place them here as sort of a personal library that I can use for inspiration. The reader is welcome to come and enjoy a read or two as well.

Space Cadet (Full Text) by Robert Heinlein

Any Friend of Nicholas Nickleby’s Is a Friend of Mine

Starman Jones (Full Text) by Robert Heinlein.

The Lottery (Full Text) by Shirley Jackson

Farnham's Freehold (Full Text) by Robert Heinlein

Invisible Boy (Full Text) by Ray Bradbury

Job: A Comedy of Justice (Full Text) by Robert Heinlein

Spell my name with an "S" by Isaac Asimov

Not the First (Full Text) by A.E. van Vogt

Space Jockey (Full Text) by Robert Heinlein

My Poetry

Art that Moves Me

An experiment of a bird in a vacuum jar.

Articles & Links

You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

Introduction to the art of Robert Williams.

Robert Williams is an artist of extreme uniqueness. He paints art in such a way that inspires and repels at the same time. He reminds me of those “Hot Rod / Monster” models that I used to make in the 1960’s. You know the type, a big ugly hairy monster with big eyeballs is sitting in this deliciously tiny hot rod trying to drive it around. He’s a talent, for certain, but his work is not for everyone.

I want to explain a bit about what lowbrow art  is.  The lowbrow or pop surrealism movement began in California among  the surfer and hot rod culture and was aimed squarely at that culture;  it’s therefore considered a populist art movement, unlike movements such  as abstract expressionism and the like, which are often regarded  (correctly or incorrectly) as elitist. 

The art is characterized by the  juxtaposition of “fine art” concepts or styles with kitsch,  comics—especially underground comix—cartoons and other pop cultural  ephemera, often in bizarre or humorous ways.  More recently, Japanese  culture and anime-style art have made their way into the movement.  The  founding father of lowbrow is usually considered to be Robert Williams, who facetiously adopted the title The Lowbrow Art of Robert Williams  for his first book of collected art, in response to the fact that at  the time no major galleries or museums would display his art,  considering it trashy and tasteless.  

The name stuck and became  associated with the movement as a whole, even though Williams himself  has since rejected it in application to his own work.  (If Williams is  the movement’s father, then its godfather is surely Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, famous for his Kustom Kulture art and especially for the character Rat Fink.) 

-Pigtails in paint

Robert Williams 1 — Robert Williams paintings are a wild pop-culture pastiche of hot rods, pinup girls, and cartoon sex and violence. For the better part of the last 50 years, Robert Williams has waged war on the mainstream art world with those eye-popping paintings, a best-selling art magazine and a growing flock of like-minded rebel artists.

His paintings are a wild pop-culture pastiche of hot rods, pinup girls, and cartoon sex and violence. For the better part of the last 50 years, Robert Williams has waged war on the mainstream art world with those eye-popping paintings, a best-selling art magazine and a growing flock of like-minded rebel artists. In a Robert Williams painting, there might be blood, fiery hot rod crashes or lecherous robots. There have also been surly tooth fairies in torn fishnets that bear a passing resemblance to Symbionese Liberation Army-era Patty Hearst.

Robert Williams 2 — In a Robert Williams painting, there might be blood, fiery hot rod crashes or lecherous robots. There have also been surly tooth fairies in torn fishnets that bear a passing resemblance to Symbionese Liberation Army-era Patty Hearst.

Oh, and don’t forget that sexy and very funny series that depicts half-naked women reclining seductively on giant platters of tacos and enchiladas.

The term “Lowbrow” was coined by Juxtapoz magazine founder  Robert Williams in the late 1970s as a way to describe a modern art  movement that flew in the face of traditional, gallery-safe, “highbrow”  elements and imagery. In this eclectic style, which draws inspiration  from punk, metal, and rockabilly music, as well as the tattoo, hot rod,  tiki, and monster movie subcultures, all rules are thrown out the  window.

Williams later referred to the Lowbrow movement as "cartoon-tainted  abstract surrealism,” but it has also been called “pop surrealism” and  “underground art,” among other things. It often depicts the vehicles and  fashions derivative of the pin-up girls of the 1940s, the greasers and  cartoons of the 1950s, the Ed “Big Daddy” Roth custom car builders of  the 1960s, the music and lowriders of the 1970s, and the London and  SoCal street art of the 1980s.

The kustom kulture lowbrow scene emerged from—and remains most  prominent in—Los Angeles, where, on any given weekend, you can find an  event featuring amazing cars, top tattoo artists, great food, and lively  music. You’ll find Lozeau there, somewhere between the surf, skeleton,  hot rod, Poly-Pop, and zombie art, working on a new painting in his  signature illustrative style. 

-David Lozeau

Robert Williams 3 — What do you think about art rooted in underground comix, hot rod cars and punk music? How would you imagine this kind of art? If you wouldn’t even call it art, then you are in line with some critics excluding this so called Lowbrow art that led to Pop Surrealism from “legitimate” art movements. Perhaps they are right. I mean, underground comix are cool for a lot of people, and so is punk music, but would you hang something like that in your apartment?

But in the pages of the ’60s counterculture underground comics, Williams flourished alongside like-minded artists who pushed the boundaries of free expression. He was a founding member of a San Francisco-based comic artist collective that also included Robert Crumb, Gilbert Shelton and the late Spain Rodriguez.

All the while, Williams toiled away on his paintings.

Robert Williams 4 — Merriam-Webster dictionary definesthe word “lowbrow” as “not interested in serious art, literature or ideas’ and ‘relating to or intended for people who are not interested in serious art, literature or ideas”. So, you get the idea. It was the late 1970s when Lowbrow started to emerge on the West Coast, particularly in Los Angeles.

Problem was, there was little space for the kind of hot-wired, pop culture-drenched representational paintings he was creating in an art world dominated by abstract expressionism.

Robert Williams 5 — Some authors point out that Lowbrow movement has its roots in art movements from the beginning of the 20th century – movements such as Dadaism, Surrealism, and Fauvism; some say that even the development of Lowbrow is similar to the development of aforementioned movements, as were the reactions of traditional art critics on the appearance of these new forms of art, back then.

Williams found an outlet and acceptance in after-hours galleries at punk rock clubs in L.A. and New York. His art work started appearing on record sleeves and concert posters for bands that have mostly vanished. But mainstream success remained elusive.

Robert Williams 6 — Since Lowbrow is connected to underground comix, tattoo, illustration and street art, among other things, many Lowbrow artists are not artists by their education – they are self-taught, far away from anything that could be considered and called fine art. These are the reasons why art critics, museums and art galleries have their doubts about the whole Lowbrow movement and Lowbrow art – it’s simply not their world and people that are creating Lowbrow art couldn’t be further away from the milieu of gallery curators and art schools.

Until 1987, that is. That’s when yet another then-unknown band came knocking on his door after spotting what is today considered Williams’ most notorious painting.

A scruffy L.A. glam rock band called Guns N’ Roses wanted it for the cover of its debut album. They also wanted to name the record after the painting: “Appetite for Destruction.”

Robert Williams 7 — Formally speaking, Robert Williams, the American painter and cartoonist, took credit for the creation of the term Lowbrow art. About 10 years ago, in his famous magazine Juxtapoz, he said that, back in 1979, it was expected of him to give the title of a book that featured his paintings. He named it The Lowbrow Art of Robert Williams (as opposed to “highbrow”), and explained that “no authorized art institution would recognize his type of art”.

In the painting, which Williams created in the late 1970s, a pretty young woman in a short skirt is selling toy robots on the street. Her kiosk is knocked over. So is she. A menacing robot in a trench coat stands over her.

Robert Williams 8 — In its beginnings, Lowbrow art was completely underground, like we have seen. But, as did so many movements before, Lowbrow started to gain some popularity – that mentioned Juxtapoz magazine, as well as Hi Fructose magazine, popularized Lowbrow and helped it to be more visible. The result was that the number of individuals that are using Lowbrow style started to grow. However, the other result was that, with this enlargement of Lowbrow artists, some of them have started to go beyond Lowbrow style – raw, unpolished and simple – and to change it towards more sophisticated and refined one.

Williams told the band fine, use it. But he warned them the cover would probably land them in trouble with religious and feminist groups. It did. One organization famously referred to it as a “glorification of rape.”

The band rallied to his defense, singer Axl Rose telling MTV that he thought people were overlooking Williams’ artistic genius.

Robert Williams 9 — A complete new sub-scene has showed up, consisted of classically and formally trained professionals that ruled the painting skills, but were still attached to Lowbrow’s inherent characteristics and motifs. In other words, we’ve got some creatives that were able to produce truly wonderful and beautiful paintings, with underground comix and punk rock motifs within. This style became known as Pop Surrealism, and some consider the artist Kenny Scharf to be the “godfather” of its name.

“I think since it was such an outrageous picture that the skill gets overlooked,” said Rose, standing alongside Williams in an interview shortly after the album’s release. “A lot more people, I think, are turned on to Robert’s artwork (because of the album) than were before, and I’m really glad to be a part of that.”

But the band ultimately caved and yanked the artwork.

Robert Williams 10 — A consequence of the creation of the movement was the acceptance by the world of so-called high art, or fine art. With the emergence of Pop Surrealism, the line between Lowbrow and Highbrow art was blurred and became indistinguishable. This new style helped Lowbrow achieve some validation and approval of the fine art world, and, at the same time, these new creatives have brought fine art closer to Lowbrow admirers – their style was so polished that it could have passed easily as something from the Old Masters tradition; however, their inspiration was drawn from counter-cultural icons: this way, Pop Surrealists brought both to high and low art something they’ve missed up until then. Pop Surrealism also had a warm reception and a big welcome from regular, average citizens – for those who were not interested, let alone educated, in high art and its history, or anything even remotely linked to it, but who were at the same time totally into pop culture and its icons.

The painting caused a stir again in 2012 when a reformed Guns N’ Roses used the image in a concert poster and companion DVD. Subsequent copies of the DVD still employ the Williams painting, but in denuded form. The girl is removed, the painting devoid of its original power.

Robert Williams 11 — The typical and a bit subversive characteristic of the movement and its artists was to use pop icons, such as Marilyn Monroe or Disney’s characters in order to pass their political or social messages, and at the same time, they’ve used painting style that referenced on Picasso or Van Gogh. One of the most popular artists, who has made the most successful across over between the high and the low art is Mark Ryden. Not only had he influenced many others, such as Ray Caesar and Jeff Soto, but he was also someone whose works have entered the world of the biggest auction houses on the planet and were able to fetch six-figure prices without a problem. Another good example is Yoshimoto Nara who sold seven of his artworks in the price range of $1-$5 million at auctions in 2015 alone.

The 1987 notoriety cemented Williams’ reputation as a major outsider artist with an outsized influence on a new generation of artists — many of whom are now regularly featured in the magazine he co-founded 20 years ago, Juxtapoz.

Presented for your enjoyment and horror.

Robert Williams 12 — Lowbrow art has gone a long way, from not being recognized as art at all, to a respectable and acclaimed style of Pop Surrealism. It had also changed over the years, transforming its style from rough, raw and uncultivated to polished and beautiful. As a true child of its time, it even followed transformation to the digital world of today. What a ride it was, from an unwanted and unloved infant to multi-million dollars sales in the biggest auction houses and galleries of the world!

Movies that Inspired Me

Here are some movies that I consider noteworthy and worth a view. Enjoy.

Stories that Inspired Me

My Poetry

Art that Moves Me

Articles & Links

You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
You can find out more about the author HERE.
If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

Yeah. RIP Bogie. Others have commented that my little stories at the start of these posts tend to trigger memories.…

RIP, Bogie. Funny thing is, I've been remembering (reminiscing? Not something I'm prone to usually, ugh!) some dogs that used…

Sounds about right. People do very dumb and dangerous things in their young years, and they can end up literally…

Icy, and cold. Ah. "The sun never shines in Syracuse". LOL. -MM

How was Syracuse University?