What is Pop Surrealism?
Mark Ryden - Allegory of the Four Element, Oil on panel, with art created frame, h: 94 x w: 114.3 cm - 2006
In an attempt to explain the art movement Pop Surrealism, Kirsten Anderson, the owner of Roq La Rue Gallery in Seattle, gives us her perspectives by firstly differentiating between both Pop Surrealism/Lowbrow terms. From a really interesting interview in My Art Space….
“When I first got involved with this movement a decade ago it was called “Lowbrow”. That term was used by Robert Williams to describe his own work and the work of the artists who sort of orbited him. It was meant tongue-in-cheek, but also it stayed in usage because it unapologetically stated that this art was not trying to appeal to overly academic art critics. At the time, I think people involved knew something big was happening but the prospect of this work (with the exception of Robert Williams) ever appearing in museums or scholarly treatises seemed very remote. Now that is very different, this whole scene has become a whole different animal so to speak”.
“In the late 90’s the scene was small and mostly confined to Southern California. Juxtapoz magazine was in circulation and really helped shape what was starting coalesce as a “movement”. Juxtapoz focused on figurative and narrative art with a big dose of cartoony freak appeal, but they also celebrated artists who were outstandingly technically proficient, whether that meant an underground cartoonist or someone like Mati Klarwein or Ernst Fuchs. Being unshackled from what everyone else thought was pretty liberating and allowed a lot of room for artists to work within. Out of this scene came artists like Mark Ryden, Camille Rose Garcia, Glenn Barr, Liz McGrath, Shag, Tod Schorr, and Tim Biskup- all of whom are wildly different yet share some undefinable something that links them. That undefinability has been the main problem with “naming” this scene.”
