The Lowdown on Lowbrow: West Coast Pop Art
Lowbrow is reactionary against high brow culture.
They think the rest of the art society is ‘snotty.’
The original meaning for lowbrow was not based in an art context.
The literal definition of lowbrow is a person regarded as uncultivated and lacking in taste.
Lowbrow was initially known for naked girls and hot rods.
It doesn’t particularly mean what it meant originally which was pornography.
Pop surrealism, low surrealism, new brow, and no brow are all terms different artists in the movie use to describe their work.
‘It’s our own sand box, anyone can play, no exclusiveness.’
It’s a lifestyle and a social scene, it’s not about critiquing and analyzing the work.
It has history in folk art, tattooing, mechanics, and car/plane builders.
Lowbrow art uses many pop culture references.
Many historical inspirations went into this type of art. The fear present during the post war times especially.
Robert Williams was a revolutionary artist in the lowbrow movement. The dominating art form when he began his work was abstract expressionism
Representational art had been dead in art schools according to Robert Williams.
Big Daddy Roth was another leader in the movement of lowbrow art.
Rock posters, psychedelia, and popping colors were classic characteristics of the lowbrow art form in the sixties. They were widely accepted in Europe, but would not be shown in the U.S.
Robert Krum is one of the greatest alternative artists of our time according to Robert Williams.
Cartoons became a big part of the narrative punch in lowbrow. Something has just happened, or is about to happen.
Mad magazine is known for low brow art and the dark humor that comes along with it.
Lowbrow artists drew upon imagery from their lifestyle and incorporated it into their art.
Conceptual art it thought to have brought exclusiveness to the art community to only those who are trained in art history. Intelligent thought is a wonderful thing brought to the art work but as many of these artists couldn’t even draw like Robert Williams says it’s like being a great composer who can’t play the piano.
Art should be an open playing field but it isn’t according to lowbrow artists.
Lowbrow artists have been forced to create their own scene due to the shut out by highly educated and specially trained curators to NOT accept their kind of artwork.
Females have always been portrayed in lowbrow art but there has been a recent emergence of women in this pop culture art that is growing fast. Women take the stance that they are better qualified to paint women than men.
Internet has brought the awareness level of lowbrow art even higher making it possible for different city’s cultures to connect with one another. The artists and the audiences can both engage this way.
Artist argue that being thousands of miles away from New York and owing nothing to Europe helps new lifestyles and art styles flourish. People are ‘open to new things’ in California. Vancouver had a parallel lifestyle to California in the 80’s.
Punk Rock attitude and music adopted lowbrow art through fliers and CD covers and spread their work this way.
Pop Tarts were ladies in the art movement that held shows in Vancouver and became more accepted when they were featured in a female lowbrow magazine.
Billy shire opened up the gallery that eventually started showing lowbrow. This with the combination of Juxtapose magazine helped people to stay in touch with the lowbrow world.
Some lowbrow artists have been very popular and are internationally known and famous but make no significant amount of money of their work while other artists are selling their work for a half a million dollars. This has certainly come up since the start of lowbrow art, but not for all artists.
Robert Williams is now in high demand at galleries where 20 years ago he couldn’t even beg anyone to show his artwork. The last three years lowbrow has gone through a renaissance with many more artists and tons of galleries.
It’s taking its time but lowbrow is certainly continuing to gain respect.
Do the videos relate to the creation of your Art Exhibition project? If yes, explain how. If no, explain why not.
I suppose this relates because it gives an example of a much smaller genre that still has a lot of variety to offer within an exhibit. I could do a 'lowbrow art through the times' exhibit, showing it's growth and highlighting key players and artworks along the way. I could do this with a different genre of art as well.
What is your opinion of the film?
I personally do not have any taste for this genre of art. I do see the talent in much of the beautiful and articulately drawn subject matter but it is indeed the subject matter I don't find aesthetically pleasing. Some sixties psychedelic albums have a place in my collections and even on my wall but I could not appreciate to stare at the pin up girls and graphic 'expression' of some of the other lowbrow work, nothing against the artists it's just not my style. I think this added to the text because we didn't really cover the 'lowbrow' movement in our book. I have to wonder if it is for the same reasons they claim and it is because it is still not widely celebrated as an 'accepted' art form.
Do they add depth to understanding of the art concepts you practiced while creating your curation project?
This didn't really help as much with my curation project because it only talked about shows and exhibits at specific museums, not really curation. Also because this is not a favorite style of mine I won't be choosing it for my exhibit. I know curators are supposed to be objective and I will do my best but I am going in a much different direction.
Displaying Modern Art: The Tate Approach
The Tate gallery has been dealing with such crowds that they had to move artwork and exhibitions for fear they would be damaged.
Modern art in the Tate was traditionally placed in chronological order from 1929 on, representing each art movement. But key absences of 20th century art have prevented curators from this standard display as there are many gaps.
The curator for MOMA started what would become the standard way for showing modern art. Primarily the focus was on the movements in art history presented in sequences. The walls were white, the lighting flexible, and the direction of the museum was direct.
Curators are responsible for selecting and organizing exhibitions.
Tate curators have chosen to display works of art in four sections. The idea is that in each section there is a principle that provides a theme for the selection and exhibition style of the works of modern art.
The thematic approach allows the curators to bring works of art together from widely different points in the last century.
The four organizing themes at Tate are: Landscape, Still Life, History, and the Nude. These themes link directly to the genres of art elaborated in the 17th century French academy. Additional terms widened the boundaries for what art could exist in these four sections, and in in what rooms.
The displays are intended to change at Tate.
The juxtaposition of Richard Long’s works with Monet’s “Water Lilies” has been extremely controversial at the Tate museum. This display challenges the viewer to draw parallels between very different works of art. None of these artworks were ever meant to be displayed together so both of them suffer a little bit.
The displays also provide striking and abrupt transitions between self-contained rooms, maximizing the space of the room and the space between artworks. There is not always an obvious connection from room to room or room to theme. The connection made must be connected very loosely and it can seem a stretch.
Contrast between rooms can seem very stark; this forces the viewer to see the paintings in a different way and through art history.
It is argued that Tate’s thematic representation of modern art requires that the viewer have no prior knowledge of art. They argue that art should be more than entertainment, without knowledge of art, the art becomes inferior.
Tate isn’t about a narrative from beginning to end but more about connections made that abruptly pop out to the viewer.
The thematic display at Tate is channeling the viewers’ reactions to paintings.
Thematic organization can make connections too easily and sidestep the difficulty represented by abstract art, almost as if it’s titling the artwork and categorizing it without letting the artwork and the viewer decide for themselves. Many abstract artists intended their paintings to be free from any dependence on figuration. They wanted to convey meaning without direct subject matter, that’s why the thematic placement can take away from this a little bit.
Tate modern proves that modern art is NOT inaccessible, the very structure and non-intimidating nature of this building caters to this. The thematic hanging also extends to the idea that people who go there are not necessarily involved in a learning process. They can go, enjoy, and take away without feeling inferior to the art, its history, or its experts.
The transitions are designed to capture our attention and have been designed for maximum dramatic effect. They are geared to make sure that no one ever gets bored. The method of distraction and differences in atmosphere help achieve this.
Tate aspires to expand the demographic of the usual museum going crowd. The nature of modern art in its understandability and appeal however provides a barrier to achieving this.
Do the videos relate to the creation of your Art Exhibition project? If yes, explain how. If no, explain why not.
Yes!! Absolutely this video was so helpful because I got some great ideas about different ways to organize my exhibit.
What is your opinion of the film?
I enjoyed this video because it did a good job of explaining, criticizing, and justifying the curators creative choices at Tate. I had no idea how much though goes behind those names of different sections or placement of certain art in certain rooms. I think I would enjoy the museum of Tate because modern art normally does intimidate me and in the past I’ve viewed it as something to ‘leave to the experts.’ The Tate museum does seem accessible however, whether the curators are ‘defying’ the meaning of art or not. This film related to our section of text on modern art. It also reminded me of some of the more famous pieces we read about such as Fountain and made me wonder where certain pieces like that might show up in this museum.
Do they add depth to understanding of the art concepts you practiced while creating your curation project?
I haven't finished my curation project yet but in the planning process this video will be very helpful in using some of the concepts like juxtaposition and rooms being segmented in certain ways so that the viewer is always interested and constantly being distracted.
Bones of Contention: Native American Archaeology
For scientific purposes, Native Americans’ bones were collected during the U.S genocide against them. There is argument between anthropologists on whether or not these remains should be returned to their ancestors family members or not.
When a road construction crew discovers a cemetery, white people were re buried in caskets while and Indian girl and her baby’s bones were placed in a box and taken for study. A member of the Yankton Siox argues for the bones to be returned to their ancestors. She argues that Anglo American bones get buried righteously while Native American bones are studied for science and this is discrimination.
Archaeologist David Van Horn was charged with criminal possession of Native human bone fragments after a law protects Indian burial sites. California is particularly strict. He avoided jail time because they ruled that he could not have possibly known these bone fragments were human upon obtaining them. He had to pay 18,000 for his own defense and lost his collection so he left archeology altogether due to California’s restrictions.
When Europeans encountered Native Americans whom they didn’t understand and who were in the way. They removed them from their land. They justified this by concluding that burial mounds and other sophisticated earth works were too civilized to have been created by Native Americans therefore this could not be their land righteously anyhow.
A doctor, Samuel Morton, concluded that brain size related to one’s intelligence. Native Americans skulls were collected and stored in museums. He made hundreds of measurements that concluded his racist archeology with theories that whites were of course the ‘smartest’ and blacks were totally dismissed as the least intelligent. This study resulted in the collection of 4,000 Native American skulls.
Susan Harjo is leading the fight to return these objects of history and religion to their Native roots. 18,000 Native American remains are held at the Smithsonian. Harjo was able to strike an agreement with the Smithsonian and this led to the apprehension of ten other museums collections of Native American remains. This also prevents research being completed for anthropologists though making it a dark age for science and studying Native American migration and history.
Many Native American reject migration theory and hold firm to their history that their roots began directly in their origins and did not migrate from somewhere.
Scientists are no faced with the daunting task of affiliating bones with the right tribes and their proper burial grounds. Natives reject the scientists’ history and prefer to make connections with their past through ceremonies and their oral tradition. Scientists however benefit in medical research by studying human remains of the past. Scientist claim benefits in understanding how man has changed from past to present in studying illnesses but Native Americans are still skeptical.
Grounds continue to make progress in being protected, while research us still ongoing for medical knowledge.
Despite the conflicts interests, both the Native American tribes and scientists have benefited from research done prior to the re burial.
Do the videos relate to the creation of your Art Exhibition project? If yes, explain how. If no, explain why not.
I didn't think this video related as much. This to me was more about history than it was about art. Artifacts can be art but I am planning on taking a much more intentional art form for my exhibition project.
What is your opinion of the film?
I enjoyed this film because it was much different from any of the other films or even topics we've been discussing. I admired the historical aspect and it was different from topics discussed in the text so it definitely added to the learning material.
Do they add depth to understanding of the art concepts you practiced while creating your curation project?
No not really, I think it will always be important as a real curator to take into consideration the pieces real and rightful home. Just because something can be studied, doesn't mean it should be. I take a different view with art I do not believe it should be a well kept or even respected secret. It was made to be seen, so I can't see the logic in returning it to ancestors of the family or anything like that, it's a much different situation.
“A museum is never finished”
Phillipe de Montebello was the curator for the met for 31 years, guiding the acquisition of more than 84,000 works of art.
Not filling in the gaps with representative examples is really important. They want truly great works to represent movements or periods in history.
Started with 174 in European paintings, catching one of Vemire’s 36 paintings in the whole world a century later was an impressive achievement by the young Montebello.
Under his representation the met would grow to serve all continents, all cultures, and all eras.
The met has gained a complete panoramic view of the world over time.
The met has an encyclopedic view in their collections, making it one of the most ‘complete’ museums in the world.
Montebello knew when a piece of artwork was needed or would add to a collection even when he didn’t personally like a particular piece or didn’t care for the artist’s work. He knew was was right for the museum and made objective decisions based on this.
The curator’s acquisition process is long and strenuous, all acquisitions must first be presented to the director who must be interested and approve the choice and know that the museum has a true place for it.
Small and seemingly unattractive objects can hold so much character that they are extremely important to the collection.
“There is no such thing as total objectivity in art.”
Phillip is obsessed with quality, he never is narrow focused or concerned with his personal taste, very important qualities to have as an art curator.
Woman seen from the back was virtually unknown until she appeared on the cover of a book, now she is widely celebrated and as part of one of the Met’s first photography collections she is very mysterious and inspiring.
Identifying works for the Met is the job of over 100 curators and curator’s assistants. They work with researchers, scientists and conservators.
Curators locate, authenticate, and propose the acquisition of new pieces to enhance the Met’s collections.
After a dry run curators must present the work to the board of trustees. The board of trustees has the ultimate decision of what gets placed in the Met.
When a museum acquires a work of art it is only the beginning of the discovery process.
Art conservation behind the scenes is extremely important. Montebello revamped and reorganized these facilities because he understands the necessity in preserving it for future generations. World class art requires world class care.
Restorations should be close to the original but discernible as a restoration.
Some pieces are better left un-restored and make their impressions without their completeness.
You need to have the right galleries to display the right collections.
Montebello played a key role in greatly multiplying the Met’s European painting collection.
Montebello’s relationships with the donors led to the purchasing of several rare and expensive gems as well at acquisition of the largest gifted collection the museum has ever received.
There is no substitute for a face to face encounter with a masterpiece. I totally agree with this.
Exhibitions can be large or small, broad or focused, and centered on just about anything or any moment in time.
De Montebello’s last exhibition was not thematic but exciting, unexpected, and surprising. It let curators think about the collections in different ways. It gave them opportunity to look again at their acquisitions in a completely different way. The works are only linked by the fact that they have been created by artists who desire to create something beautiful.
Phillip de Montebello’s most tangible contribution that he will forever be remembered and celebrated for is his guiding contribution to the building of an encyclopedic collection of art.
Do the videos relate to the creation of your Art Exhibition project? If yes, explain how. If no, explain why not.
Absolutely! Now that I know how important of a job it is I will be ready for the task. I truly must remain objective as de Montebello was. I also think I would like to work with juxtapositions that aren't meant to go together such as in his last exhibit..maybe, I haven't decided completely.
What is your opinion of the film?
I really enjoyed this film, I think the most of all of them. It was long but it made me gain such a respect for art curators and all the work behind the scenes to putting together a museum. I really want to see the Met now and understand the way some of these art works were put together or acquired. I think this added to the text in a different way because I can now go back and think of the pieces we studied and the museums we discussed in the text with a new respect for the people like De Montebello who 'make it all happen.'
Do they add depth to understanding of the art concepts you practiced while creating your curation project?
This video definitely did. I will be much more aware of the placement of certain works next to each other and in what context after watching how much thought is required in this film.
