Original Painting Lowbrow Art Anthony Ausgang Oil Canvas 17 3/4 X 23 3/4

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Seller: memorabilia111 ✉️ (808) 100%, Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 176270373057 ORIGINAL PAINTING LOWBROW ART ANTHONY AUSGANG OIL CANVAS 17 3/4 X 23 3/4. An original painting stretched oil on canvas measuring 17 3/4 X 23 3/4 inches by Lowbrow artist Anthony Ausgang. This painting is handsigned by Anthony Ausgang and was purchased directly from the artist over 20 years ago.
Since the early ’90s, Anthony Ausgang has been leaving his distinct mark on the contemporary visual art scene. The L.A.-based artist may best be known for acrylic works featuring cartoonish cat characters, placed in settings as absurd as they are darkly psychedelic. The cats and critters in Ausgang’s world are sometimes within classic comic book scenarios, including jalopies, nature or night club settings; yet their bodies contort, leap and stretch to the point of being unrecognizable, as a shocked expression with bugged-out eyes is pulled like taffy across a shifting, checkerboard background. In the last century, the feline has been immortalized everywhere, from the 1920s’ surreal flavor of “Felix the Cat” to Dr. Seuss’ “Cat in the Hat” (1957) to Robert Crumb’s notoriously pornographic puss of the swinging ’60s, “Fritz the Cat.” In that same tradition, Ausgang’s rendering of man’s other best friend is one of the more iconic images of what is known as the Lowbrow Movement. In the ’90s, underground art maestro Robert Williams coined the term “lowbrow” to describe the diaspora of artists born from scenes and styles that were by their very nature the antithesis of “highbrow” culture. Everything from hot rod pin-striping, tiki culture, Betty Page adoration, horror film monsters, acid rock posters of the ’60s, punk rock fliers, skateboard designs and graffiti were celebrated and absorbed under the umbrella term Lowbrow. While Ausgang is considered one of the de facto kingpins of Lowbrow, in the past two decades, his art (ausgangart.com) has been gradually clawing its way up from the underground. Ausgang’s imagery has been featured in more than 50 international group and solo exhibits and appeared in a variety of places, from Volcom skate graphics to The Boredoms’ and MGMT’s album covers. The L.A.-based Ausgang, interviewed by email, explained his views on Lowbrow art, his tripped-out imagery and feline affections. Folio Weekly: Do you feel comfortable with being identified with the Lowbrow movement/category? Anthony Ausgang: I wear the Lowbrow Art label like a badge of honor since, after all, I was one of the originators of its second wave. Basil Wolverton was arguably the O.G. [original gangster] of the Lowbrow style, but Robert Williams and his Zap crew [were] the primogenitors of what would become Lowbrow with a capital “L,” essentially forming the first wave. That’s because Williams made a great effort to get his paintings in legitimate galleries, an attack that had never been attempted before. He also knew that a lone voice in the wilderness is easily ignored, so he invited all the brothers and sisters of the Lowbrow cloth to participate in group exhibitions. But it wasn’t until rich art collectors began to buy Lowbrow art and art critics wrote about it that the art dealers became seriously interested in what was going on. F.W.: You seem to like to focus on using these cartoon cat characters in most of your pieces. On your online manifesto, you explain that you use those creatures in “an attempt to explain the human condition.” After 20 years of using this same motif, do you ever struggle or feel confined by working with that particular image? A.A.: Sure, I often regret basing my life’s work on an impulse, which was essentially how I chose cats. There was no brainstorming, no anguish over theory — I just found a cat figure in a comic that was in the correct pose for what I was trying to do, and that was it. As I became more famous, people began asking me why I chose cats, what it meant, etc. … Andy Warhol once said that he gave different answers to the same questions asked by interviewers, so he knew what people had read when they talked to him. I have all sorts of answers to why I chose cats; thanks for not asking. F.W.: When I look at your paintings, I’m baffled as to whether or not you’re trying to tell a story, convey some kind of narrative or simply creating an image as an icon or graphic. In fact, over the years, it seems like you’re creating even less of a “story,” but rather playing with the plasticity and shape of the cat-like characters, to where it seems like you’re almost saturating the figures just to the edge of complete abstraction. Am I off the mark with this observation? A.A.: No, you are correct. Most figurative art is an attempt to capture a particular moment in a narrative. That’s why we see George Washington crossing the Delaware and not eating his cornflakes that morning. The trick is to catch the most dramatic moment. So, Lowbrow took on that dogma and some very interesting and new stories began to be told. Meanwhile, the Lowbrow artists were trashing abstract art, holding it up for public ridicule as the most offensive manifestation of highbrow art. Well, that got me interested in importing these hated elements and seeing if I could slip them by these arbiters of taste. Back in the early 1980s, I worked as a production painter for a furniture upholstery company whose gimmick was selling hand-painted fabric. I learned a lot of techniques to make the various decorative patterns, but there was just no way to apply these methods to anything representational. After a while, I forgot most of that knowledge and just worked on developing my own style, eventually getting so good at my method that I got bored and the paintings began to look stagnant. Around that time, a few healthy doses of the powerful psychedelic drug DMT reintroduced me to the joys of abstract visions and a deconstructed reality. I eventually combined my new interest in a nonlinear psychedelic narrative with the painting techniques I had shunned for years; the marriage was perfect and completely reignited my interest in painting again. F.W.: How many cats do you own? A.A.: I have two cats that are all mine and two that come over every day and chill out with us. One of them crosses the street to get over here and actually looks both ways for cars, quite an impressive feat. Sorry, but I’ve never seen a dog do that. thony Ausgang was born in Trinidad and Tobago in 1959 to a         Dutch mother and Welsh father. The family moved to Houston Texas in the early 1960s, a particularly difficult time for an immigrant family to parse American culture. Nevertheless, Ausgang's father made brave attempts to assimilate by attending custom car shows and demolition derbies. Ausgang eventually encountered Ed Roth and before long had a shoebox full of Rat Finks, a small plastic figurine of a noxious rodent that had somehow become the embodiment of Hot Rod and Custom Car Culture. Ausgang's mother continued the European traditions by dragging her son to endless operas, symphonies and art museums. This combination of High Art and Low Art was to prove a fertile cultural mulch for Ausgang's artistic inclinations. After a short stint studying art at The University Of Texas in Austin, Ausgang succumbed to the myth of California and moved to Los Angeles where he began classes at The Otis Art Institute. Disappointed to find out that the curriculum there didn't include target practice, admiring cars or watching surf films, Ausgang dropped out to start showing his artwork to as many galleries as would tolerate his frequent visits. Finally accepted by the infamous Zero One Gallery, a combination of after hours nightclub, gallery and crashpad, he had his first official sale, to a drug dealer. At his solo show later that year Ausgang sold to a more diverse and socially acceptable crew as collectors and critics began to take notice. At the Zero One Ausgang met Robert Williams, who had been one of the main forces at Roth Studios in the 1960's and at this time was the most successful practitioner of the type of art that would later be called Low Brow. As the "official" artworld began to accept Ausgang's work so did the commercial artworld and he began making record covers and posters and working as a consultant on computer generated animation. In 1993 Ausgang was included in the Laguna Beach Art Museum's seminal exhibit "Kustom Kulture" which investigated art influenced by gearhead car culture. In 2003 Ausgang's paintings could be seen in Morning Wood, a primer of Post Graf art; in 2004 his work graced the pages of contemporary art survey Pop Surrealism and in 2005 Weirdo Deluxe explained his art to the unenlightened. Ausgang draws influence from as many outside channels as possible, preferring the toy contents of grocery store gumball machines over the latest exhibit at the Whitney. Opinionated but informed, he is able to see the beauty in both a Rembrandt and a rat rod. This variety of interest has led him to design his artwork on the computer but complete it on the easel, the perfect combination of new technology and traditional media. Anthony Ausgang is an artist living and working in LA. He is a legend within the world of Lowbrow, a term which may relate to some of his sources of inspiration, but certainly not to his own creative achievements or aspirations. Ausgang’s bold, psychedelic visual statements are filled with cartoon animals who delineate timeless themes pertaining to the human condition. This is the same human condition explored in the world’s greatest and most revered examples of highbrow fine art. Although Ausgang may be a self proclaimed “art school drop out”, the DIY aesthetic which has been instilled in him since youth (when he lived through the explosion of punk rock), coupled with a relentless drive and motivation to perfect his craft, have proved that the true essence of his art comes from within. It’s about questioning and communicating what it means to be human, and doing so by viewing the world through his own personal lens in the contemporary era. WOW x WOW are over the moon to have recently had the chance of catching up with Anthony to ask him a few questions about art and life. Anthony Ausgang - The Dare Hi Anthony, thanks for taking the time to join us. Before we get started, can you tell us a little about your background and what it was that led to you becoming an artist? I was born in 1959 in Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean but grew up in Houston, Texas, and split for California in 1980. I became an artist because I couldn’t play a musical instrument but I wanted to hang around people who were regarded as either cultural renegades or just plain useless by most people’s standards. Punk rock had a lot to do with it; there was a feeling in the air that a big change was happening and I had to decide which side I was on. What are your feelings about the academic training you had? I was quite naïve when I decided to become an artist; I had no idea that there was any such thing as an art school or even a gallery scene for that matter. I thought that artists were just these iconoclastic figures that existed outside of any professional network, practically surviving on air. But once I began taking classes at the Otis Art Institute here in Los Angeles I wised up pretty quickly and began going to every art opening I could find, mostly to “graze” on the free wine and cheese. I learned many technical tricks and got a lot of important art-making information from school but the cost seemed high, and after three semesters I dropped out. I then began working as production painter making hand painted fabric for furniture and learned a lot of painting tricks and wild secret techniques. At the time I figured it was way smarter to get paid while learning at a job than paying to learn in some classroom. Anthony Ausgang - Ninth Life You are celebrated as a pioneer within the second wave of the Lowbrow Art movement, a scene that has always been regarded as an outsider of the art world. What does the term ‘Lowbrow’ mean to you? Also, who or what do you regard as today’s outsider equivalents? Lowbrow Art is inspired by manifestations of “low culture”, which often involves the revival of obscure marginalia from previous eras. Its nostalgia based, making the lowbrow impulse tinged with an unreality that transits to surreality. It’s unreasonable in that respect; I didn’t begin making art to bring back forgotten icons, it was all about what was going on at the time for me. Some Lowbrow artists traffic in that sort of revivalism but I feel that is suicidal. Will anyone give a shit about the TV show My Favorite Martian in twenty years? Does anyone care now? The point of art is to make timeless messages. Lowbrow and Outsider Art are cousins; distantly related but mutually exclusive. Lowbrow artists are generally aware of what they are doing and the external value of the finished piece. Outsider artists are working free of such expectations; in a way, that makes them more pure. Can you talk to us about the psychedelic aspect of your work? One can only assume that the development of your visual aesthetic was expedited through experimentation with some interesting substances – the sort that would be very much at home in Timothy Leary‘s medicine cabinet? Abstract Art is based on real objects in space and the artist’s interpretation of them; Non-Objective Art is concerned with the expression of an artist’s self-generated images of non-reality. There is a similar differentiation in the psychedelic experience. On LSD, one witnesses the abstraction of a surrounding reality, on DMT one is suddenly involved in a completely distinct non-reality. My “experimentation” with these substances certainly had an influence on my artistic process and I became interested in the point at which a recognizable image becomes unrecognizable; I wanted to pare the image down to the minimal number of visual clues. Anthony Ausgang - Cirque De Soil Some people may be surprised to learn that you use a computer to aid your compositional development. When did you start using technology as a creative tool and can you describe what you like most about working with digital media? I began using Adobe Photoshop in the late 90’s when many artists considered it a tool of Satan that was going to bring down the art world. It’s difficult now to image such an attitude, but a Luddite panic seems to occur at just about every technological innovation. I have no doubt that Adobe Photoshop is the greatest innovation in the art making process since the invention of oil paint in the 15th century. I was more than happy to use computer graphics programs to scale images up and down, move elements around; easily accomplish all the things that I previously had to do with scissors, glue and a copy machine. But I was ready for it; in the late 70’s collage was a punk rock medium and I used to spend hours at the copy machine in the library, moving the paper around as it was scanned, doing weird shit with flashlights… In a sense, the very first computer graphics programs were copy machines themselves. Digital media is a tool that makes many things possible; I can now “remix” my drawings as easily as a musician remixes a song. This makes hybrid visual compositions easy; now my vast library of sketches is not just a repository, it’s a trove of available images I can refer to easily. Tex Avery had a huge influence on you as a young artist; particularly regarding the way you approach the look and stylization of the characters in your paintings. Can you talk to us a little about your love of Tex and do his animations still inspire you to this day? Tex Avery was an animator and cartoon director for Warner Bros. and his cartoons were originally made for theatrical release in the 1940s. In the 60s, his cartoons were broadcast on Saturday morning television, and as a kid I was really impressed by the high quality of the sight gags and violence. After the Warner Bros. show, live action “cartoons” such as The Banana Splits would come on with their serious psychedelia, and I guess the two approaches kind of melded together in my mind. Consequently, when I got to The University of Texas, my drawings and paintings started from this “psyche-cartoon” base and there were only a few teachers, like Peter Saul, who got it. Inspiration is liquid; influence is concrete. Tex Avery will always be my influence; but out of necessity, I am inspired by more recent manifestations of contemporary culture. Anthony Ausgang - The Screech You once believed that “art could change the world” and have recently come to the conclusion that this might not be the case in contemporary culture. What do you believe art’s purpose to be now, and what is it that keeps you painting? Until very recently, art was the domain of an educated cultural elite, and as such, it defied being co-opted by the mainstream; it lacked the same “democracy of stupidity” that ended up neutralizing popular music. Look, eventually everything gets absorbed by the Establishment and used for purposes other than its original intention; for example, the song Rock and Roll by Led Zeppelin was used in a Cadillac commercial. More recently, Shepard Fairey brought Art to the public attention by way of Graffiti and now street crews like TATS CRU are hyping Coca Cola. Art can’t change the world any more because people aren’t interested in making that happen; but apparently art can change the car you drive or the soda you drink. The power of art has always been in its ability to communicate universally in a non-linguistic way; why even sign language changes in different countries, but a drawing of a cat will always be recognizable as a cat. The purpose of art is to make the invisible visible; once the instant has passed for a perfect photograph, the only way to recreate that moment is to draw or paint it. The unfortunate truth is that not everybody can, or should be, an artist; what keeps me going as an artist is the knowledge that I have an ability many people don’t, and not to waste it… Which of your own creations do you feel has been the most successful and why? My most successful creation was the cover art that I painted for the MGMT album Congratulations. I consider it a success, not because its my most widely recognized image, but because I feel that it perfectly captures the spirit of the music on that album… which is fortunate because they were still mixing the tracks as I was doing the artwork! I also feel that it was success because several people have gotten tattoos of that image on them, which proves it’s worth beyond any association with me personally. Anthony Ausgang - MGMT - Congratulations What is your relationship with the history of art and do you feel that it is important to have a good understanding of what has come before? Can you talk about some of the artists from the past who have inspired you and then bring it up to date with some of your contemporary favorites? Knowledge of history indicates an acceptance of one’s mortality and an understanding that humanity’s accomplishments are the results of individual actions. Art history is no different; if you want to be remembered then you better remember those who went before, because one day, you’re gonna be history too! Remembrance is something we do for the dead who were once just as alive as you, the person reading this. I don’t have favorite artists so much as favorite art pieces. The Hermitage Museum in Russia has some incredible Dutch and Flemish paintings from the 16th century that manage to clearly get across what it must have been like to be alive then. As far as more recent art, my father used to bring home books like Best New Yorker Cartoons 1948 and from them I got a real definite idea of how to pack as much punch as possible in a single panel. As far as contemporary artists, well, I’m always looking for undiscovered talent; but it can be so disappointing when someone has everything they need to succeed and it just doesn’t happen. Anthony Ausgang - King of Phone Sex (with Artist) Having watched or read previous interviews with you it is clear that you’re a person with a wealth of fascinating stories to tell. Can you tell us an anecdote from your career that you’ve never told publicly before? I showed at an art gallery that also represented an artist who took clothing worn by famous people, dunked them in paint and then displayed them in ornate gold frames. One piece was supposedly made from a dress worn by Rita Hayworth in the movie Gilda, and it sold right away. The collector brought it home, took the dress out of the frame and had it cleaned at vast expense so he could put it on and watch the film. Turned out that the scenes in which Rita Hayworth wore the dress never made the final cut so the collector sued my art dealer. In order to pay for his defense, the dealer told a lawyer he could take three Ausgang paintings as payment, and he gave the value of my work at about 100,000 dollars each, a completely insane amount since my work was selling for maybe 2500 dollars tops at the time. Anyway, my dealer lost the case and the lawyer took possession of three of my paintings as payment. Fast forward to about five years later: I’m talking to some friends at an art opening and I feel this insistent tapping on my shoulder so I turn around and there is the lawyer, red in the face and already screaming at me that my work turned out to be worthless and I had better figure out some way to pay him the money he was owed! I told him it wasn’t my problem but he wouldn’t stop bitching at me so I had to run out the back door of the gallery to get away from him. What did you set out to achieve in your career as an artist and do you feel that you have come close to your goal? I moved to Hollywood, California to become a star, just like everyone else getting off the bus; the only difference was I wanted to be an ART star! I guess it happened to some degree since I’m answering your questions and not busking chalk drawings on the sidewalk. 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? On the other hand, many collectors are totally OK with collecting this kind of art, and some of the artists that took their art to the new level, to Pop Surrealism, are also OK with everything people say about their art, because who wouldn’t be OK when he or she receives six figures for an artwork? book print pop williams popular page edit search books Jeff Soto – Car Crash, Courtesy of Jonathan LeVine Gallery Lowbrow Origins 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. 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. 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. 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”. book print pop williams contact popular page edit search books Todd Schorr – Five O’Clock Shadows in Disney-Dali Land, 1996 The Transformation 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. 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. “Surrealism is about the unconscious, and I feel my work is about the unconscious. The images come from the unconscious except that my unconscious is filled with pop imagery. My unconscious is pop, therefore the art would be Pop Surrealism” – that’s how Kenny Scharf described his art. print pop williams contact popular page edit search books Ray Caesar – Tea With Me and He, 2012 Pop Surrealism Another 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 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. pop williams contact popular page edit search books Mark Ryden – Katy Perry The Variations Let’s see now some of the variations in style through the work by some of the most prominent members of the movement. Todd Schorr has combined two of his loves, Old Master paintings and comic book art, and created a recognizable style. He began his career as an illustrator, but got bored, gave up and completely went into fine art painting, where he implemented characters of his imagination with some Old Master painting technique. Another well-known name is Victor Castillo, who’s been famous for his long-nosed characters, that were inspired by cartoons of his childhood in Chile. Alex Gross uses Lowbrow motifs to allegorically highlight some phenomena in the society that surrounds him, while Jeff Soto is a true crossover from Pop Surrealism to Street art, and vice-versa. He started as a street artist during his teens, and has graduallyhe evolved into a respected artist that uses imaginary creatures in a retro-futuristic manner to open up the questions about man’s relationship with nature. Finally, as the time has changed, Pop Surrealism has changed as well – as everything went digital after the beginning of 2000’s, so did the movement. Artists started to use and experiment Photoshop and 3D modeling programs like Maya, and a true master of this domain is Ray Caesar – you may think of his work that is something created several centuries ago, and then, all out of a sudden, you find out that some of the characters in his paintings have a bionic limb, or a machine inside of their chests. So, as we’ve seen, 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!    Editors’ Tip: Pop Surrealism: The Rise of Underground Art In the Pop Surrealism: The Rise of Underground Art, you can find many images from the movement’s twenty-three top artists including: Anthony Ausgang, Glenn Barr, Tim Biskup, Kalynn Campbell, The Clayton Brothers, Joe Coleman, Camille Rose Garcia, Alex Gross, Charles Krafft, Liz McGrath, Scott Musgrove, Niagara, The Pizz, Lisa Petrucci, Mark Ryden, Isabel Samaras, Todd Schorr, Shag, Robert Williams, and Eric White. It is the first comprehensive survey of the Pop Surrealism/Lowbrow art movement. With its origins in 1960’s hot rod culture and underground comics, Pop Surrealism has evolved into a vilified, vital, and exciting art movement. The volume also includes informative essays by art luminaries Robert Williams, Carlo McCormick, and Larry Reid, as well as a forward by author Kirsten Anderson Lowbrow is a movement - slowly gaining momentum - that doesn't necessarily care if The Art World recognizes it as such. What matters to Lowbrow is that most of us average people do recognize it. Anyone who has ever watched cartoons, read Mad magazine, enjoyed a John Waters film, consumed a product with a corporate logo or possessed a sense of humor shouldn't have a hard time getting comfy with Lowbrow. Lowbrow-the-Movement has here been assigned a "circa" of 1994, as that is the year that Lowbrow artist extraordinaire Robert Williams founded Juxtapoz magazine. Juxtapoz showcases Lowbrow artists and is currently the second best-selling art magazine in the U.S. (This seems like a good time to mention, too, that Williams claims copyright on the word "Lowbrow." As both pioneer and current grandee of the movement, he is certainly entitled.) The roots of Lowbrow, however, go back decades to Southern California hotrods ("Kustom Kars") and surf culture. Ed ("Big Daddy") Roth is frequently credited with getting Lowbrow, as a movement, underway by creating Rat Fink in the late 1950s. During the 60's, Lowbrow (not known as such, then) branched out into underground Comix (yes, that is how it is spelled, in this context) - particularly Zap and the work of R. Crumb, Victor Moscoso, S. Clay Wilson and the aforementioned Williams. Over the years, Lowbrow has unapologetically picked up influences from classic cartoons, 60's TV sitcoms, psychedelic (and any other type of) rock music, pulp art, soft porn, comic books, sci-fi, "B" (or lower) horror movies, Japanese anime and black velvet Elvis, among many other "subcultural" offerings. Is Lowbrow a legitimate movement? Well, The Art World seems to get to decide these things. Time will tell. It's worth noting, however, that The Art World didn't cotton to many movements when they first emerged. The Impressionists endured years of lampooning by art critics - many of whom probably went to their graves kicking themselves black and blue for not buying early Impressionist works. Similar stories exist about Dada, Expressionism, Surrealism, Fauvism, the Indian River School, Realism, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood...aw, gee whiz. It'd be easier to list the times The Art World got in on the ground floor of a movement, wouldn't it? If the test of time for legitimacy (as an artistic movement) means that Lowbrow speaks/spoke, in visual terms, to the millions of us who share a common cultural, symbolic language - albeit a "lower" or "middle" class, media-driven language - then, yes, Lowbrow is here to stay. Anthropologists will probably study Lowbrow in the future, to attempt to figure out late 20th and early 21st U.S. societal influences. What are the characteristics of Lowbrow?     Lowbrow was born of underground or "street" culture.     The single most common tactic that Lowbrow artists employ is to poke fun at convention. They know the "rules" of art, and consciously choose not to abide by them.     Lowbrow art has a sense of humor. Sometimes the humor is gleeful, sometimes it's impish and sometimes it's born of sarcastic comment, but it is always present.     Lowbrow draws heavily on icons of popular culture, particularly those now commonly known as "Retro." Tail-end "Baby Boomers" will recognize them straight away, unless said Boomers were raised in an environment that disallowed outside influences.     Lowbrow, while it is defining itself, goes by a number of aliases: underground, visionary, Neo-Pop, anti-establishment and "Kustom" are but several examples. Additionally, John Seabrook has coined the phrase "Nobrow," and one has also seen the term "Newbrow."     For the time being, most Lowbrow art isn't sanctioned by the critical/curatorial/gallery-going mainstream. The few exceptions to this seem to be happening primarily in the greater Los Angeles area, with a smattering of southern Florida exhibitions thrown in. Juxtapoz magazine is the best bet for becoming acquainted with Lowbrow artists.     Lowbrow currently suffers something of an identity crisis, due to having a wide variety of artists lumped into it. For example, the designer of a simple, kitschy decal may be accorded the same Lowbrow designation as the artist who composes a technically masterful Lowbrow painting or sci-fi sculpture. Hopefully, this will sort itself out in years to come. Meanwhile, you might want to begin collecting Lowbrow now, for the sakes of your grandchildren. Anthony Ausgang (born Anthony Charles Grant Thompson) is an artist and writer born in Pointe-à-Pierre, Trinidad and Tobago[1] in 1959 who lives and works in Los Angeles.[2] Ausgang is a principal painter associated with the Lowbrow art movement,[3][4][5] one of "the first major wave of lowbrow artists" to show in Los Angeles in the early 1980s.[6] The protagonists of his paintings are cats[7] -- "psychedelic, wide eyed, with a kind of evil look in their eyes".[8] He was schooled at the Otis Art Institute[9] in Los Angeles. In 1990, Ausgang had his first solo show at the 01 Gallery in Hollywood.[10] Among the places he has exhibited are: La Luz de Jesus, The Laguna Art Museum's "Kustom Kulture" show, Kantor Gallery. Merry Karnowsky Gallery, Roq La Rue Gallery,[3] LA Municipal Gallery, and Copro Gallery.[11][12] In 2009, Ausgang's work was included in the exhibition Apocalypse Wow! at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome in Italy,[13] and in late 2012, Ausgang was the featured international artist at the Rewind show in Bologna celebrating the 50th anniversary of Fender guitar in Italy.[14] Congratulations cover art by Anthony Ausgang By 1993, Ausgang's artistic production consisted of customized cars,[15] original acrylic paintings,[2] and commercial merchandise,[16] including clothing,[17] puzzles,[18] toys,[19] lighters,[20] and posters.[21] Laguna Art Museum commissioned Ausgang to design a hole for a miniature golf course exhibit at South Coast Plaza in 1996.[22] As a "successful artist who appears in several magazines and exhibitions a year", Ausgang also boasts an impressive list of commercial clients including Tower Records, MTV, Sony Music and David Lee Roth.[23] In 2003, Ausgang designed the cover for Dude Descending a Staircase, the fourth studio album by the British band Apollo 440.[2] In 2010, Ausgang did the cover art[24] for the MGMT release Congratulations,[25][26][27] "an eye grabbing illustration that could easily been found on a Grateful Dead release circa 1974"[28] which was nominated by NME for the Best Art Vinyl of 2010.[29] In 2011, Ausgang designed the Christmas windows for the La Rinascente Department Store in Milan with larger-than-life three-dimensional models of his trademark psychedelic cartoon cats.[30] KeroseneBomb published Ausgang's first fiction book The Sleep of Puss Titter: A Lysenkoist Life in the Random-Word Generation in 2011.[31] "Vacation from Reality" is the anthology of his major artworks up to 2007.[2] His artwork is featured in several anthologies, including Weirdo Deluxe: The Wild World of Pop Surrealism & Lowbrow Art by Matt Dukes Jordan[6] and Pop Surrealism by Kirsten Anderson.[3] LA Weekly magazine commissioned a painting by Ausgang for their annual "Best Of ... " special issue in 2000.[32] In 2011, Anthong Ausgang received the lifetime achievement award at Beyond Eden's annual art fair at Barnsdall Art Park.[33][34] Books     Vacation from Reality: The Art of Anthony Ausgang (9mm Books, 2007) ISBN 978-0-9766-3250-4     Weirdo Deluxe: The Wild World of Pop Surrealism & Lowbrow Art by Matt Dukes Jordan, Artist Anthology (Chronicle Books, 2005) ISBN 978-0-8118-4241-9     LA Artland: Contemporary Art from Los Angeles by Chris Kraus, Ariana Fox, Artist Anthology (Black Dog Publishing, 2005) ISBN 978-1-9047-7230-9     Pop Surrealism by Kirsten Anderson, Artist Anthology (Last Gasp, 2004) ISBN 978-0-8671-9618-4     Morning Wood by Roger Gastman, Artist Anthology (Gingko Press, 2003) ISBN 978-1-58423-159-2     Taboo: The Art of Tiki by Martin McIntosh, Artist Anthology (Outre Gallery Press, 1999) ISBN 978-0-6463-7731-5     Kustom Kulture by Ron Turner, Artist Anthology (Last Gasp, 1993) ISBN 978-0-8671-9405-0     Juxtapoz Car Culture by Kevin Thomson, Artist Anthology (Gingko Press, 2009) ISBN 978-1-5842-3347-3
  • Size: Medium (up to 36in.)
  • Artist: ANTHONY AUSGANG
  • Style: LOWBROW
  • Listed By: Dealer or Reseller
  • Unit of Sale: UNIQUE
  • Material: OIL ON CANVAS
  • Date of Creation: 1990-1999
  • Features: Signed
  • Width (Inches): 23 3/4
  • Subject: Cartoons & Caricatures
  • Original/Licensed Reproduction: Original
  • Height (Inches): 17 3/4
  • Type: Painting

PicClick Insights - Original Painting Lowbrow Art Anthony Ausgang Oil Canvas 17 3/4 X 23 3/4 PicClick Exclusive

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