AI Art Generator An Art Movement

Lowbrow, also referred as Pop Surrealism, originated from different underground or populist art forms, such as tattoos, comic, street culture, punk music, and other California subcultures. A significant part of contribution in Lowbrow was in form of paintings, while its other formats being toys, AI Art Generator, digital art, and sculpture.

The History
Lowbrow started in Los Angeles, California, as an underground Visual Art movement in the late 1970s. Underground artists Robert Williams (born 1943) and Gary Panter (born 1950) are credited as its pioneers. Initially, lesser-known galleries in Los Angeles and New York would organize the Lowbrow shows. Soon many artists adopted this form of art. A steady growth helped propagate the number of the galleries showing this art form. Julie Rico Gallery and the Bess Cutler Gallery were the two main galleries, which exhibited important artists’ works and contributed towards expanding and developing Lowbrow. Robert Williams published the first Lowbrow magazine Juxtapoz, in 1994, which became the guideline for the associated artists, thereby helping in its evolution and wider spread.

The Essence
The art movement gave space to artists other than the cultural aristocrats. It rejected the distinction between the commercial and the Fine Art. In fact, it could be considered similar to Folk Art, where artists had actual talent, skill, and training. Lowbrow had a high influence of Pop culture. It picked up local Visual Art flavors, wherever it established itself. Lowbrow also displayed a spectrum of expressions, from strongly humorous to the gruesome ones.

The Controversies
The term “Lowbrow Art,” generated as a critique to the Highbrow culture, was in some part a creative inspiration. There are doubts however, about considering giving it a ‘legitimate’ movement status, as the artists involve, initially worked in fields that are not consider as Fine Art, such as comics and tattooing. Museums, art critics, and galleries have been quite uncertain about it.

Art experts, including schools, curators, and critics, have concerns about the different aspects of Lowbrow Art. As it adopts a figurative focus, cultivates narration, and strongly values technical skills. The veterans always deeply criticized these fundamentals throughout the 1980s and 90s. With the development of Lowbrow however, many artists have gone on to show their work mostly in mainstream Fine Art Galleries.